Inspiring Presentation at a Mental Health Forum by Eva Cox - a Carer's Perspective

 In late 2010 I attended a Mental Health Carer Forum at which Eva Cox gave a very inspiring presentation. I would like to share her ideas with those of you who were unable to attend.

The area of Mental Health and how we as a society address the myriad of issues relating to it was the theme. Rather than bandaid solutions passed on through government initiatives, that we as carers are all too aware rarely offer profound long-term solutions, Eva suggests we try to think outside the square -to try to understand the underlying causes of the mental health epidemic.

In her opinion, it is the structure of modern society that is making us sick, that is the environmental and economic pressures placed on individuals in our advanced capitalist state. She quotes from the “White Hall Study” that studied the control factors affecting health.  One would think that poverty was a strong factor, but the study found that inequality was a far more ‘toxic’ factor.

Inequality is a social perception, as its levels increase the poorer the mental Health e.g. United States. In a way, we deal with inequality every day, but what people find hard to deal with is the sense of injustice or unfairness often accompanying these experiences. This elicits an emotional response  which discourages a sense of agency- we become angry, self-destructive, transgressive or withdrawn.

Since the 1980/90s we have witnessed the rise of a market/economic dominance of the elements of society. Eva is highly critical of this Neo-liberalism, or as she refers to it Economic Fundamentalism. Moral issues and ethics are brushed aside in an almost superstitious belief in the “Market”.

Along with this trend is the undermining of social cohesion due to the dominance of Individualism. In a market society people are consumed with self-interest, not the long term benefit of generations to come or even one’s fellow man.

The trend towards privatisation of all things that contribute to the infrastructure of society ignores the importance of these infrastructures to a healthy functioning society and instead contributes to short term individual wealth. We pay our taxes to the government who then allocates these funds unfairly.

Eva asks us to try and think outside this paradigm, to focus instead on our interconnectedness as human beings, of which the “market” is an element. Not to let the “market” dominate society, but to consider what society needs and then how the economy can meet those needs.

Our society is made up of the market, State and the Community and a healthy society would have an even balance between the three, but in modern society these three levels have been “corporatised”. This results in less of a sense of autonomy within the group as well less sense of collective action. We become apathetic.

Another example of this can be seen in the NGOs, where large organisations swallow up the smaller local level groups. Within this system the groups become colonised with no sense of collaboration. Everyone looks after their own interests but this does not help the good of the whole.

All these groups rely on funding and modern governments tend to judge their allocation on economic rather than quality bases. The more powerful and financially active groups use resources to lobby government for funding rather than the money being spent on the people or programmes that need it.

So how does Eva suggest we change this viewpoint?  We put “Social” back on the agenda, that a good society is based on equity and fairness. We need to recognise that government is merely a tool of the corporate world resulting in bias and unfairness to the ‘non-productive’ members of society. We need to promote goodwill, collaboration, a sense of the collective rather than individual needs, and most importantly a sense of agency-that what we say and do matters. This will promote a sense of social well-being no matter how difficult the circumstances we as individuals face, knowing that other members of society understand and care is a powerful source of strength for the human psyche.

Anne Stedman

ARAFMI Central Coast