In our part of the world, the past two centuries have been, among other things, a story of social progress. It started with the abolition of slavery, continued with the women’s-rights and labor movements, and culminated in the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Campaigns since then have focused on the environment, equal access for the “differently abled”, and respect for gay and lesbian partnerships.
What will come next? What should come next? The current campaigns one observes on social media are focused on animal welfare and transgender issues. There is, however, another issue out there that is only starting to get the attention it deserves. I think it could be the big social issue of the early 21st century, and in my opinion it ought to be.
That issue is mental illness. It lies mainly in the domain of medicine, to be sure, but it has a strong social component.
The suicide of comedian-turned-actor Robin Williams earlier this week made clear how subtle the symptoms can be. Williams, 63, was beloved by millions, was happily married, had everything a person could desire, and had every means available to control his life, his career and his destiny, yet he suffered from depression. He had fought alcohol and drug addiction successfully, but had gone back to the bottle after a number of years. Only a few people — those who were closest to him — noticed that he was incurably unhappy.
It’s all around us
If you’re 27 and can’t bear the thought of living to be 63, that’s one thing. But to be 63 and not be able to go on? How is that possible? a rational person would ask.
That’s just it. Someone who is mentally ill is, by definition, unable to think rationally all the time. It’s hard to understand why he made that decision — but we need to try.
Mental illness is all around us. We may acknowledge individual cases of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and read about post-traumatic stress disorder, but almost all of us know someone who suffers from hoarding, agoraphobia, anxiety or Alzheimer’s disease. Not much has been said about anorexia and bulimia in recent years, but they’re still out there. I suspect that all of these conditions add up to about 10 percent of the population, but if we recognize that addiction and depression are also mental illnesses, we’re talking far more.
Mental illness costs society enormously
The cost to society is enormous: not just from the violence and antisocial behavior that sometimes result, but also from lost productivity. Severe depression can mean several months at a time away from work. A person with full-blown Alzheimer’s disease can wear down an entire family. The instinct of many bipolar and schizophrenic individuals to self-medicate can be dangerous to those around them, not to mention support illegal behavior or even organized crime.
Humor is another form of self-medication, as Robin Williams surely recognized. His gift to us was also his way of getting through the day.
Humor as medicine
In this vein, I’m reminded of one of the most talented satirical writers of the 20th century, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Vonnegut was justifiably anguished. His mother had committed suicide in 1944. The following year, while a prisoner of war, he experienced the bombing of Dresden from a basement. One of his sons, Mark Vonnegut, suffers from bipolar disorder.
Vonnegut’s answer was to see the absurdity in all human endeavors. If people acted bizarrely or cruelly, Vonnegut ascribed their behavior to “bad chemicals” — either chemicals that were in their brains to begin with or chemicals that didn’t belong there.
If anybody were to commit suicide, I always thought, it would be Vonnegut. Most of his novels — funny as they were — were about people who brought about their own, or mankind‘s, destruction. Instead, Vonnegut lived to be 84. He died because he fell down the stairs.
We really don’t know what’s going on inside someone’s brain. Like Williams, he might appear happy but be tormented; like Vonnegut, he might appear very cynical but be fine.
The next big social campaign, I hope, will be to give those who are suffering — and those around them — the understanding that they’re not alone or even unusual. That’s the first step to providing the resources for the support, and research, and medical help, they need.
