Week 8 - Amanda Wong
I remember being in sixth grade when my parents, and many of my friend’s parents were getting divorced. It was around these events that my ideals of normalcy began to shatter around me. I began to realized just how much craziness happened inside people’s homes that wasn’t talked about. I realized how crazy everyone’s life is behind closed doors. What I didn’t understand was - why did everyone make such a big deal about hiding their problems?
In this week’s reading, “Belief in Mental Health” by Kai Cheng Thom, it explores how these ideals of mental health have been built up in our society and their effects on us. Thom explains the value of systemic thinking as a therapist. This way of looking at issues of mental health legitimize the environmentals we live in and their effect on our mental and physical wellbeing. My answer, to the question I posed above, was that if we pretend we are normal and hide our flaws the more power we were able to encapsulate. This aligns with what Thom said, “Mental health is the language of power -- the power to exist within, and sometimes define, the conventions of sanity, normalcy, the status quo, capitalism, white heteropatriarchy.” I believe the real power we possess is when we can realize this, defy what is considered normal, and own it.
By taking this class we are all defying what is normal and opening our minds. This aligns with the topic of the week to bring the spirit realm into academia, acknowledging the unknown, to begin our path towards spiritual liberation. By addressing the mind, body, and spirit we are able to join this movement of spiritual liberation. Question: Why does exposing our problems make us more vulnerable?
Kai Cheng Thom. “Belief in Mental Health.” In Open in Emergency.
image: http://www.hannabier.com/coaching/
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