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https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3akm4/why-basic-income-is-a-mental-health-issue>
"Across the Western world, there is a rising epidemic of depression and
anxiety—one that disfigured my life for over a decade. For years now,
the United Nations has been trying to warn us that these problems are
continuing to spike up in part because we have, as a culture, been
responding in the wrong way. In its official statement for World Health
Day last year, the UN explained that we need move from “focusing on
‘chemical imbalances’ to focusing on ‘power imbalances.’” At first
glance, this sounds puzzling. What could they mean?
For several decades now, we have been taught to see our deepest forms of
pain—our depression, our anxiety—as primarily problems with our internal
brain chemistry: some missing serotonin here, some missing dopamine
there. This is how I was told to think about my depression by my doctor.
But the UN’s leading medical figures have warned that this view is
“biased and selective use of research outcomes” that “cause more harm
than good” and “must be abandoned.” There is, they claim, a different
way of looking at this problem—one that offers meaningful solutions."
Sometimes people feel like crap because things actually do suck. Turns
out that giving people a safety net, reducing stress and showing that
society does care at least a little bit helps people’s mental health.
Imagine that!
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
