It is true, there is a great mental health crisis. The funny thing is that there is not necessarily anything new under the sun about it. It is just that, long before it came to the fore, it was not seen as a big deal.

Some people may have been experiencing as well as exhibiting mental illness for too long, but they have been socially misdiagnosed. Instead of these symptoms being rightly diagnosed and the “patients” properly referred for intervention, they have been socially characterised as rudeness, narcissism, self-absorption or sometimes even frankness.

Moreover, somehow, there seems to have been a covert agenda to soften society to the point where mental illness is normalised. Instead of honestly addressing the issue and having a hard discussion about one’s mental wellness, everyone else must enrol for some emotional intelligence course to cope with the elephant in the room. Interestingly, mental illness has made it very clear that it is indiscriminate. 

It does not care whether one is black or green, educated or uneducated, highly or lowly paid, successful or unsuccessful. It basically has no borders. Funnily, you may find it exhibiting itself even in highly-qualified mental health experts. Often, when it comes to every subject matter, we usually try to think too much and even waste time trying to investigate matters that are very basic, and mental health is no exception. However, in most cases, mental health concerns can be as clear as a blue sky. The problem is that sometimes, the theory in the textbook is applied without the contextualisation of factors such as geographical location, cultural and socio-economic factors. Some of the literature used for reference was written in places faraway, yet universally applied as a standard curriculum. 

Therefore, the success of such theories in New York may not necessarily address mental health issues in Katjina-Katji. This may even be the reason that the more we attempt to address the mental health conundrum, the worse it gets. Furthermore, it is also not good to address the exacerbation of mental health problems without acknowledging the challenges technological advancement has brought to the present. Just as too much of anything is bad, the unlimited overuse of social media and unlimited access to unlimited information can also play a great role in this matter. It may even bring about the advent of a range of factors and outcomes thereof that no mental health scientist has even become aware of yet. Whatever the unknown factors may be, we must keep the hope that divine intervention may eventually come through. It may also be that when that time comes, this writing may as well just have been another misdiagnosis that eventually paved the path to the antidote. Nevertheless, this must not take away individual and personal responsibility to also question our own mental health. Just as when it

comes to death, we hear of it as if it is only other people who die, the same goes for mental health or illness. When we speak of it, our reference seems to be only about other people, while we neglect ourselves. Lastly, we must forever remember one of nature’s principles – so above, so below. 

So it means our behaviour simply exhibits what’s within. How we communicate and behave towards others can become a statement of our mental health status. It can tell a lot about our internal state of being. Whether there is calmness, peace and harmony, or it is turmoil, havoc and unpleasantness. To have this awareness can be transformative, and help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life that may eventually guarantee a life well-lived.

*Uncommon Sense is published bi-weekly in the New Era with contributions from Karlos Naimwhaka. YouTube channel: Karlos Lokos

– karlsimbumusic@gmail.com