“Mental health is talked about using the language of epidemics, and has been commoditised into something to be ordered over the counter …”
“Not all suffering is mental illness. Pretending it is raises false hopes and puts pressure on an already strained NHS”, writes Adrian Massey in The Guardian.
His opinion piece begins:
“I have a growing sense of unease about the Americanisation of British society’s attitude towards mental health. In the 1980s, British audiences smiled bemusedly at neurosis-laden Woody Allen films and the normality with which American television and cinema treated notions of therapy, meds and interventions. To a British ear, the protagonists of these human melodramas could seem self-absorbed, foolish and narcissistic; figures of fun to be pitied for their inability to maintain a stiff upper lip and their ignorance of the power of a strong cup of tea. Yet now these are all concepts that have been normalised in Britain too.
Mental health is talked about using the language of epidemics, and has been commoditised into something to be ordered over the counter: professionals, pills and a side order of talking therapy … ”
You can read more here.
