Week 3 - Charles Miin
As an individual, I personally appreciate the idea of holistic practices and perspectives in many aspects of society. I believe this methodology strengthens the college application process that many who will read this will have experienced as it celebrates high achievement, especially that which is done in many different and diverse ways. I also think it's categorically important when implemented in the area of work-life balance. The world, through the years, has become a vastly progress driven society. Not an evil pursuit necessarily but still definitely one that can at times feel like it's literally draining the life from an individual. In this case, holistic wellness is important for healthy well-being.
Yet, the field of study where this is practiced and championed the most, is in the realm of mental health. Now, this is in my personal experience but I find that individuals like Shana Bulhan Haydock have been witness to it as well and it's oddly enough one of the few implementations where I strongly disagree with holistic practice with such wide breadth and where I feel like it's actually a detriment. There is definitely a universal human experience (Haydock, 45) that allows for humans all over this planet to lead radically different lives and yet share many commonalities. I believe this universal experience runs parallel to the concept of mental health and actually only intersects very infrequently and remains largely unrelated. I would argue rather, that the human experience as it is shaped by geospatial factors such as culture and religion make mental health in global communities infinitely diverse and complex. It is why it is hard to conceive how the government of Japan is pushing for its workers, who are some of the most highly stressed and overworked in the world, to take "Premium Fridays" where they leave work early on the last Friday of each month in the hopes that they will shop and otherwise enjoy free time. This practice was established in hopes of diminishing the alarmingly high rate of suicide currently ongoing due to extreme overwork. It seems that the Japanese government is attempting to resolve their issue in a normal and generalized manner, theorizing that having a bit of time off and encouraging spending will be good for these workers and society. This does nothing to address the underlying factors such as the tense culture of relentless progress by many Japanese companies who encourage and even demand that workers engage in overtime routinely. This is an example of what I believe Haydock is writing of when she mentions that "The whole has always existed at the expense of the particular." (Haydock, 46) Japan's economy is one of the strongest in the world, at the expense of individual freedom and quality of life.
Modern society, on a general level, whether it be in Japan on the United States readily idealizes the virtues of blissful happiness and the spectacular advances of society. These extremes are conceptualized as the the whole; as normal and individuals who don't purely accept and integrate into this "mentally sick" or "deviant" and require assistance to rejoin the whole. I think one of the first steps in addressing the brokenness of this system of help is to recognize that if we want to have a "whole" society we must accept the veracity of mental health issues and individuals coexisting with the rest of society. All resources should go into helping understand these great struggles and determining how they can find parity with "normal" society and not simply just be victims of unwanted reintegration. The idea of divergence and the intricacies of specific experiences must have room to breathe and grow without the inhibition of the careless prescription of drugs or shame in the request of help. (Haydock, 52)
What changes in academic position and literature need to occur to begin accepting the need to understand mental illness instead of fixing it?
References:
Shana Bulhan Haydock. “Fucked Up: I Would Always Rather be Abnormal than Holistic.” in Open in Emergency.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/24/premium-fridays-japan-gives-workers-break-go-shopping
Yet, the field of study where this is practiced and championed the most, is in the realm of mental health. Now, this is in my personal experience but I find that individuals like Shana Bulhan Haydock have been witness to it as well and it's oddly enough one of the few implementations where I strongly disagree with holistic practice with such wide breadth and where I feel like it's actually a detriment. There is definitely a universal human experience (Haydock, 45) that allows for humans all over this planet to lead radically different lives and yet share many commonalities. I believe this universal experience runs parallel to the concept of mental health and actually only intersects very infrequently and remains largely unrelated. I would argue rather, that the human experience as it is shaped by geospatial factors such as culture and religion make mental health in global communities infinitely diverse and complex. It is why it is hard to conceive how the government of Japan is pushing for its workers, who are some of the most highly stressed and overworked in the world, to take "Premium Fridays" where they leave work early on the last Friday of each month in the hopes that they will shop and otherwise enjoy free time. This practice was established in hopes of diminishing the alarmingly high rate of suicide currently ongoing due to extreme overwork. It seems that the Japanese government is attempting to resolve their issue in a normal and generalized manner, theorizing that having a bit of time off and encouraging spending will be good for these workers and society. This does nothing to address the underlying factors such as the tense culture of relentless progress by many Japanese companies who encourage and even demand that workers engage in overtime routinely. This is an example of what I believe Haydock is writing of when she mentions that "The whole has always existed at the expense of the particular." (Haydock, 46) Japan's economy is one of the strongest in the world, at the expense of individual freedom and quality of life.
Modern society, on a general level, whether it be in Japan on the United States readily idealizes the virtues of blissful happiness and the spectacular advances of society. These extremes are conceptualized as the the whole; as normal and individuals who don't purely accept and integrate into this "mentally sick" or "deviant" and require assistance to rejoin the whole. I think one of the first steps in addressing the brokenness of this system of help is to recognize that if we want to have a "whole" society we must accept the veracity of mental health issues and individuals coexisting with the rest of society. All resources should go into helping understand these great struggles and determining how they can find parity with "normal" society and not simply just be victims of unwanted reintegration. The idea of divergence and the intricacies of specific experiences must have room to breathe and grow without the inhibition of the careless prescription of drugs or shame in the request of help. (Haydock, 52)
What changes in academic position and literature need to occur to begin accepting the need to understand mental illness instead of fixing it?
References:
Shana Bulhan Haydock. “Fucked Up: I Would Always Rather be Abnormal than Holistic.” in Open in Emergency.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/24/premium-fridays-japan-gives-workers-break-go-shopping
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