Mental illness is directly proportional to the individualization and internalization of social problems.


Mental illness is inversely proportional to the existence, participation, and effectiveness of social movements relevant to peoples’ needs.


I write these phrases, not because they are provable and true, but because they focus on what I believe to be key aspects of our current era. The philosophy of individualism, internalized into our culture and ourselves, causes us to blame ourselves or others for the problems of our lives. Having such responsibility on our shoulders often leads to despair, anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and self-blame when things don’t go well. Or, we single out other individuals and blame them.


Increasingly, our problems have social, economic, and political origins. Peoples of other countries, having a history and knowledge of solidarity, resistance, struggle, and democracy, are far more likely to participate in various forms of community and social movements, to change, improve, and resist the degradation of institutions and of rights important to them and to people like them.


While layoffs in Europe prompt mass demonstrations and political change, layoffs in the US lead to individual efforts towards individual solutions. People in Europe and other parts of the world have a sense of class unity and division, and are more willing to pay a higher rate of taxes for the common good, more willing to tax and limit the ability of some individuals to become enormously rich and powerful at the expense of everyone else.