It was the statistics. Almost sixty percent of young people were on psych meds. That implied that it was more normal to be mentally ill than mentally healthy.

That's nuts. And totally believable given my experience in the K-12 school systems. Something that was game-changing for the youth I worked with was applying appreciative inquiry and positive/humanistic psychology principles. I saw some of the most troubled kids shift with this different approach to make sense of their experiences. Our current standard of mental health does little to address this, which is the flip side of the coin to all that is "broken" or "wrong" about us. The negativity bias hardwired into us from an evolutionary standpoint dominates the way we solve problems on an institutional, geopolitical, community, and personal level. We overestimate threats, and underestimate resources.

And what if those suffering from mental and emotional distress are having a rational response to a sick society and unjust economy? A UN independent advisor once said that the mental health crisis is not solely stemmed from chemical imbalances in the brain, but more from power imbalances in society. The side effects of socioeconomic disparities create mass malaise and trauma, and biomedical gatekeepers perpetuate stigma and discrimination. The institutional schooling of kids, as opposed to real education, disempowers the inherent creativity and meaning that live in us, which is needed for self-regulation and overall well-being. All of this along with neoliberal capitalism and consumer culture deadens our connections with our unconscious, where our deeper desires and needs can be revealed and nurtured.

So what would optimal human well-being look like? Or a society designed to meet everyone's needs? I think this will support a constructive shift in our collective unconscious as humanity wakes up to its own evolution. Problems need to get bigger sometimes in order to solve it. It reminds me of this passage from an article years ago:

Instead of focusing only on piecemeal solutions for various forms of social ills, we must consider that the real and lasting solution is a new economy designed for all people, not only for the ruling corporate elite. This new economy must be based on principles and strategies that contribute to human well-being, such as family-friendly policies, meaningful and democratic work, and community wealth-building activities to minimize the widening income gap and reduce poverty.

All of this may not be helpful to your writing process. But it sure had me thinking about things ;)