World Mental Health Day - Are You Suffering From Capitalism?
Today is World Mental Health Day, a day which draws much needed attention to the fact that Ireland has one of the highest rates of mental illness in Europe and stubbornly high suicide rates. Every Irish family has been directly or indirectly affected by suicide, anxiety, depression and a range of other far-too-common mental health issues.
It is imperative that Irish society takes the time to address the causes of such a widespread phenomenon and seeks ways to improve our collective mental well being. But the key question is why are so many people suffering from mental health issues in modern Irish society and how can it be tackled?
Much of the mainstream debate has focused on self-help guides and steps individuals can take to help improve their mental health such as diet, exercise, rest and living as stress-free a life as possible. All of this is laudable and helpful to many individuals who struggle with their mental well-being. But the ongoing national conversation about mental health rarely, if ever, focuses on the role that the current economic system, capitalism, is playing in fuelling this tsunami of mental illness.
Capitalism has made Ireland a precarious place for far too many people - creating an age of precarious employment in a ‘gig economy’ of short-term contracts, of low wages, always-on workplaces, of extortionate housing costs, of sky-high personal debt and of overburdened health, education, transport and other vital public services.
As of 2023, many Irish workers work more hours per-week than their parent's generation did, with significant numbers of people now working several jobs as they struggle to pay their bills. When many workers also have no option but to remain in manipulative and exploitative workplaces the sense of alienation and hopelessness is even greater.
It is no shock that the number of students seeking mental health services has skyrocketed as students struggle to find affordable accommodation, many making long journeys each morning and couch surfing in order to attend college. In these circumstances is it any wonder there is such a crisis of mental health? Is it any surprise that so many people are struggling to keep mentally well in the highly individualistic, competitive and materialistic society that capitalism has created?
In the short-term, public monies should be used to provide rapid access to therapy, counselling and other forms of mental healthcare. In the medium to long-term we must move to an economic system based on real equality and co-operation that genuinely values each person's contribution as opposed to treating people as economic units to be squeezed for the last drop of profit. None of us can function as full members of society and be present for our family, friends and community if we are not fully well, and that includes mental health as much as any other aspect of our health.
This is made infinitely more difficult by an economic system which deliberately pitches citizen against citizen in a ruthless fight to secure employment, housing, healthcare and virtually everything else we need to be healthy and reach our individual potential.
The best thing any of us can do to improve our mental health is find ways to build our resilience within the capitalist system while recognising that our collective mental health cannot be separated from the economic system that shapes every aspect of our society. And beyond that we can all work together to build a New Republic based on a new co-operative, democratic economic system.