I would go as far as to say, that mental un-wellness could be seen as a “normal” response to living in an unjust society that often sends us self-hating messages all the time; that we are not slim and toned enough, not beautiful enough; that all our self worth is based on what job we have, how much we earn, whether we are “proper” men and women; that we have to buy stuff to prove to ourselves we are “free to choose”; that our person hood and self-worth can be reduced to a monetary figure; that there are no sentient beings except humans; that destruction of the earth, inequality, oppression, destitution is inevitable, necessary even for some people so we can have our standard of living that is constantly under threat from terrorists and foreigners who threaten the “fragile economy”.
I would venture that feeling anxious, deep sadness and anger, are “normal” responses to separation from self-sustaining connected living; being told to forget what happened to our ancestors, or that it never really happened, or it wasn’t that bad; having amnesia about how our ancestors got here and what they did to remain here and live well. Normal and expected responses to ignoring the exploitation that goes into the many many essential things we buy; to living with and or perpetuating or remaining silent and ambivalent about homophobia, racism, transphobia, exploitation, body hatred and discrimination. Expected responses to living in a white-centric, male dominated, hetero-centric, body policing, polluting, profit obsessed, environment destroying, spiritually bereft colonised nation hell bent on forgetting its shameful past.
I would suggest that mental, emotional, spiritual un-wellness could be a “normal” and expected, even “healthy” unrepressed response to living with consciousness and awareness in our psychotic society.
We are made unwell by living within an unhealthy society. That is “normal” and expected I think.
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