mental health and politics
Looking at adults aged 18-29, liberals are more than twice as likely as conservatives to have been diagnosed with a mental illness. And regardless of politics, young women are about 50% more likely as young men to have been diagnosed with a mental illness. A majority of young liberal women have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
OK, so I'll ask the question out loud -- are feminism and other liberal philosophies driving people crazy?
Some psychologists think about this in a more nuanced way, that certain ways of thinking that are popular among liberals interacting on social media are harmful to their mental health.
Probably the #1 harmful way of thinking found on the Left is called "catastrophizing". Viewing the election of a Republican as "the end of democracy". Viewing global warming as an "extinction level event". Reacting to a conservative Supreme Court as "the war on women". Minorities talking about being "erased" when encountering disagreement.
Social media can feed catastrophizing by emphasizing the worst among conservative viewpoints -- for example, here's a conservative who says he wants to eliminate all transgender people. Here's an excerpt from a Supreme Court opinion that would eliminate same-sex marriage (but only if a majority of the court adopted it). Here's a video of a white cop shooting a black person. But social media also feeds catastrophizing by emphasizing the most dire liberal viewpoints. The algorithms push "engagement" and nothing feeds engagement like the threat of catastrophe. Well, maybe cat videos are a close second place.
On the other hand, the leading Republican candidate for president does encourage violence to overturn a democratic election and does talk about suspending the Constitution to remain in power.
And global warming is real, and we aren't doing enough to fix it, which will significantly change every ecological habitat on the planet, causing extinctions along the way.
And Republicans are diminishing the right to terminate a pregnancy wherever they hold power.
And Republicans are trying to censor what is taught in schools so that racism and gender and LGBT issues are not discussed.
Is the problem "catastrophizing", or is the problem catastrophe?
It could be both. How can liberals protect their mental health in the face of catastrophe? How do you deal with catastrophe without catastrophizing?
The same way we deal with anything, by accepting the reality and then acting with compassion within each moment.
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During my tour in the mental hospital -- yes, I'm one of those liberals who was literally driven crazy by my opposition to the presidency of GW Bush -- I noticed something important about the other patients. During group therapy, I noticed the one thing we all had in common was a failure to accept reality. Not wanting reality to be what it really was seemed to be the underlying cause of what society viewed as our mental illnesses. For some people this reality was very personal, such as having whiny kids but no spouse and no job. But whatever the personal reality, we were all bound together in saying, "NO! I will not accept this reality!!"
It was a weirdly Buddhist lesson while inside a mental hospital.
But acceptance is not as easy as flipping a light switch. I didn't turn into some Buddha overnight. I'm still not some Buddha. Acceptance requires practice and effort. From time to time my practice waxes and wanes as I deal with living in the world with a job and relationships and exercise goals and leisure activities, and media and social media and retirement savings and bills and chores and a house & pets. And I worry about potential catastrophes also :-(
It may be that wanting a better world carries with it the potential for mental illness, because wanting a better world is different from acceptance. Wanting a better world is different from acting with compassion within each moment.
I think a 21st Century Buddha would say, "The world is fucked up. You cannot fix it. The world has always been fucked up. The world has always been unfixable. All you can do is see the world for what it is, and then act with compassion within each moment. Can you open your mind and your heart to all the world's living beings, even those whose politics you dislike, even those whose behaviors threaten you, and then act with compassion toward all, including compassion toward yourself?" And this is also what a 5th Century BC Buddha would've said. And this is also what an 8th Century AD Buddha would've said. And if we make it that far, this is also what a 34th Century Buddha would say.
OK, so I'll ask the question out loud -- are feminism and other liberal philosophies driving people crazy?
Some psychologists think about this in a more nuanced way, that certain ways of thinking that are popular among liberals interacting on social media are harmful to their mental health.
Probably the #1 harmful way of thinking found on the Left is called "catastrophizing". Viewing the election of a Republican as "the end of democracy". Viewing global warming as an "extinction level event". Reacting to a conservative Supreme Court as "the war on women". Minorities talking about being "erased" when encountering disagreement.
Social media can feed catastrophizing by emphasizing the worst among conservative viewpoints -- for example, here's a conservative who says he wants to eliminate all transgender people. Here's an excerpt from a Supreme Court opinion that would eliminate same-sex marriage (but only if a majority of the court adopted it). Here's a video of a white cop shooting a black person. But social media also feeds catastrophizing by emphasizing the most dire liberal viewpoints. The algorithms push "engagement" and nothing feeds engagement like the threat of catastrophe. Well, maybe cat videos are a close second place.
On the other hand, the leading Republican candidate for president does encourage violence to overturn a democratic election and does talk about suspending the Constitution to remain in power.
And global warming is real, and we aren't doing enough to fix it, which will significantly change every ecological habitat on the planet, causing extinctions along the way.
And Republicans are diminishing the right to terminate a pregnancy wherever they hold power.
And Republicans are trying to censor what is taught in schools so that racism and gender and LGBT issues are not discussed.
Is the problem "catastrophizing", or is the problem catastrophe?
It could be both. How can liberals protect their mental health in the face of catastrophe? How do you deal with catastrophe without catastrophizing?
The same way we deal with anything, by accepting the reality and then acting with compassion within each moment.
-----
During my tour in the mental hospital -- yes, I'm one of those liberals who was literally driven crazy by my opposition to the presidency of GW Bush -- I noticed something important about the other patients. During group therapy, I noticed the one thing we all had in common was a failure to accept reality. Not wanting reality to be what it really was seemed to be the underlying cause of what society viewed as our mental illnesses. For some people this reality was very personal, such as having whiny kids but no spouse and no job. But whatever the personal reality, we were all bound together in saying, "NO! I will not accept this reality!!"
It was a weirdly Buddhist lesson while inside a mental hospital.
But acceptance is not as easy as flipping a light switch. I didn't turn into some Buddha overnight. I'm still not some Buddha. Acceptance requires practice and effort. From time to time my practice waxes and wanes as I deal with living in the world with a job and relationships and exercise goals and leisure activities, and media and social media and retirement savings and bills and chores and a house & pets. And I worry about potential catastrophes also :-(
It may be that wanting a better world carries with it the potential for mental illness, because wanting a better world is different from acceptance. Wanting a better world is different from acting with compassion within each moment.
I think a 21st Century Buddha would say, "The world is fucked up. You cannot fix it. The world has always been fucked up. The world has always been unfixable. All you can do is see the world for what it is, and then act with compassion within each moment. Can you open your mind and your heart to all the world's living beings, even those whose politics you dislike, even those whose behaviors threaten you, and then act with compassion toward all, including compassion toward yourself?" And this is also what a 5th Century BC Buddha would've said. And this is also what an 8th Century AD Buddha would've said. And if we make it that far, this is also what a 34th Century Buddha would say.