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Mental Wealth

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Re: Mental Wealth

#41

Post by andi999 »

glutamate wrote: post #14
andi999 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree fully, except you shouldnt work for social and environmental justice, but social and environmental improvement instead.

What is the difference, to you? To me, working for improvement can too easily become redirected towards self-aggrandisement. I did this, I accomplished this. Working for justice implies that laws and rights, natural or human-made, are being denied and broken.

Yes, one should avoid that. I mean there are a few problems with focussing on justice (you might disagree of course):

- justice cannot be achieved. Look at the courtrooms (which is actually there to serve justice), but is the verdict really justice? So persuing justice can make you cynical - for the example of social justice, you could approach it by thinking it is just (or solves the justice problem) to take away the wealth of the rich. Does this improve the social condition of the unfortunate? Also this can make you radical and bitter. - Also if you go for justice, you might start to see a lot of things as 'unfair' this is a negative feeling

Generally I believe a mindset of helping others/nature by planning to improving things is better (for the cause itself and for oneself) than trying to fight perceived injustices.

Re: Mental Wealth

#42

Post by rwnspace »

onion2k wrote: post #33

I find articles like this one where 100% of the onus for coping with mental health problems is put on the individual quite annoying. There's nothing in the article about getting help from other people, or how to cope with problems that you can't fix easily. It's kind of a toxic attitude because it makes others believe people with mental health issues just aren't trying hard enough and completely ignores individual ci…

Imagine if we put the blame on wild animals for their behavioural adaptations after we destroyed their natural environments.

Imagine if we simply observed obesity as "what happens to x% of the human population after y years of exposure to this environment".

Imagine if we observed the growing disconnect between intelligence and critical thinking ability as a function of changes in the information ecology.

Re: Mental Wealth

#43

Post by eeZah7Ux »

onion2k wrote: post #33

I find articles like this one where 100% of the onus for coping with mental health problems is put on the individual quite annoying. There's nothing in the article about getting help from other people, or how to cope with problems that you can't fix easily. It's kind of a toxic attitude because it makes others believe people with mental health issues just aren't trying hard enough and completely ignores individual ci…

Spot on: telling people to "sleep better" is good advice - in isolation.

Telling people to do that when they are struggling with big social problems (unemployment, poor access to education, discrimination...) or already existing mental issues is very harsh.

Re: Mental Wealth

#44

Post by mkmk2 »

Yanu-3452 wrote: post #32
NalNezumi wrote: post #24

>When it comes to mental health, our society approaches it like we did with physical health 50 years ago. We only think about it when something is wrong. I'm not sure about the broader society, but I think this mentality is still prevalent in both physical and mental health these day. My mother was a very health conscious person (to the level of insanity) but one attitude she showed that I think lead to long term men…

Sorry but this is nonsense. You're suggesting that I shouldn't get the same chemotherapy for relapsed cancer or that my relapse is because of "something in my life is terribly wrong". Because the treatment worked to get it in remission, fuck me for wanting to take the same medicine again? Lots of people suffer from poor health through no fault of their own. Arguing that their ills must be because of poor life choices…

It's possible to have the parents post view and still believe chemotherapy is an incredible tool in the right circumstances.

I don't feel they were talking about it in an over-generalizing way, just saying that if you're living unhealthily you're going to continue to be/get unhealthy. Medicine and treatment can help though, as a band aid in these cases. Of course this doesn't preclude someone who's generally healthy from getting sick, unfortunately.

But your comment is also correct, just misdirected in this case I feel :)

Re: Mental Wealth

#45

Post by s1t5 »

> my experience has taught me that there are five foundations towards a concept I will call ‘mental wealth’ — sleep, diet, exercise, stress management, and exogenous compounds (anything from coffee to alcohol to prescription medication).

I think these are accurate but a glaring omission is the overarching element of "how good is your life". You can take care of your physiology (and you should) but that won't get you too far if, for example, you're also stuck at a dead end job or if you're completely isolated and have no friends and no intimate partner.

Re: Mental Wealth

#46

Post by hobofan »

Yanu-3452 wrote: post #32
NalNezumi wrote: post #24

>When it comes to mental health, our society approaches it like we did with physical health 50 years ago. We only think about it when something is wrong. I'm not sure about the broader society, but I think this mentality is still prevalent in both physical and mental health these day. My mother was a very health conscious person (to the level of insanity) but one attitude she showed that I think lead to long term men…

Sorry but this is nonsense. You're suggesting that I shouldn't get the same chemotherapy for relapsed cancer or that my relapse is because of "something in my life is terribly wrong". Because the treatment worked to get it in remission, fuck me for wanting to take the same medicine again? Lots of people suffer from poor health through no fault of their own. Arguing that their ills must be because of poor life choices…

> I don't share that absolutist attitude, some situations are only solvable with medical interference.

Re: Mental Wealth

#47

Post by snikeris »

glutamate wrote: post #16
logicchains wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal the article is referring to is improving mental health. Is a consistently unhappy person considered mentally healthy?

If I worked for my own happiness, how would I look at myself in the mirror knowing that my happiness is based on an unsustainable lifestyle? How can I be happy knowing that that my sisters can't get three square meals a day and my brothers can't breathe?

I would argue that you are in a better position to help your brothers and sisters from a place of happiness. You know, put on your oxygen mask before you help the passenger next to you. Otherwise you’ve passed out and are of no use to anyone.

Re: Mental Wealth

#48

Post by austincheney »

jordwest wrote: post #3

In this article the author covers a few areas to consider in managing mental health: Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Stress Management, Exogenous Compounds (from coffee to melatonin to Prozac, and anything in between) These are certainly important factors, and I think we need to look much more broadly at underlying factors than just these (or just drugs). I've been reading about mental health issues for years with my own ups…

> Politicians think that riots are the problem and if they stop the riots with force the problem goes away. But riots are just a symptom of a sick system.

No the system and other systemic or social problems are just a excuse.

Riots, at least those in recent events are an example of contagious social behavior. That is evidenced by the fact that the blamed issues have been known problems for longer than two weeks with people actively working for years to raise awareness of them. If other people are so passionate about these social problems that they are drawn to riot then where was this passion more than two weeks ago? Why suddenly congregate into emotional hysteria, especially since other people have been actively addressing these concerns for years, when the problems of complaint are preexisting and were clearly previously known to these congregants?

Re: Mental Wealth

#49

Post by AlexanderZ »

I've been working on an app that allows me to send messages to my past and future selves, as well as posting today's thoughts (for reading by my future self). I had initially created it over a weekend as a fun side project, but it turned out to be a great tool for self reflection. An ios beta is coming out next week, fill out this form if you'd like to try it out:

https://forms.gle/C9KebsV2u64Wqvc56

Re: Mental Wealth

#50

Post by adreamingsoul »

AlexanderZ wrote: post #49

I've been working on an app that allows me to send messages to my past and future selves, as well as posting today's thoughts (for reading by my future self). I had initially created it over a weekend as a fun side project, but it turned out to be a great tool for self reflection. An ios beta is coming out next week, fill out this form if you'd like to try it out: https://forms.gle/C9KebsV2u64Wqvc56

Nice! A low tech solution for this is to use a notebook. I find it helpful to have the ability to doodle as I reflect on my thoughts and feelings.
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