The sorry state of mental health services.

[Phoenix]

... as they had nothing to offer in response to the life I was living and what I was feeling, as they could not even relate to the depth of the emotions I was experiencing.  

I am still kind of digesting your response but I wanted to quote this. This is something I think is very relevant to the discussion. I think there is a lot of cultural crap surrounding this which I really think is very dysfunctional. I do not understand people that seem to exist outside any sort of understanding of how humans emotionally operate, I cannot understand a lot of so called 'adults' emotional illiteracy in this area. And I know it was not discussed here, but I also think a lot of women when they get into relationships are very unpleasantly shocked to learn that men actually have emotions outside cultural expectations.

The general state of mental health across the world I also think has been very affected by the digital age. Many people are attached to their phones/devices watching life rather than even noticing what is going on around them, including the people they love. I'm not trying to place blame, I only see this happening and that it is very addictive from my observation. The internet has paradoxically allowed more connection (virtually) and more separation (in the real world).

This is another point that I forgot to mention. Well there are two points actually but the one that relates to this is that people are so f'n cold with each other. A lot of people with these problems become excessively extroverted and that is how they moderate their emotions. A lot of people. I have seen this a lot. In fact, 75% of the time when I see a very extroverted person, especially guys, I expect that something like this is sitting in the shadows of that person. In lockdown when everyone "social distanced", a lot of people that were inclined this way were left with nothing and their psychology fell apart. A lot of these types are too afraid of closer, more intimate connections as well; reminiscent of the borderline fear of "engulfment"; and also the general view that people that are messed up often try to keep a lot of themselves private and keep soldiering on which of course slowly makes things worse!


The other thing that causes massive problems is "work". This is a factor that drives a lot of people over the edge. An aspect of this I feel is how shallow work relationships are. A lot of those places when you leave you never see anyone there again. I had a colleague commit suicide at one place I worked and no one cared, just carried on! The trouble is is that the more you analyse it the more it just all goes back to the deep state and it should be obvious life will improve without all of their various machinations. That seems to be the underlying factor in most issues. However, I still think mental health as a standalone issue is very important and very directly relevant to those that are interested in service to others.