Statistics clearly show we are in the midst of a widespread mental health crisis (1). The impact of the pandemic over the past 3 years has added to the stress load that many kiwis were already carrying, exacerbating existing mental health issues.

A recent article in the NZ Herald cited a Mental Health Foundation survey showing “36% of people surveyed were experiencing poor emotional wellbeing, up from 27% a year ago, an increase that the foundation says is significant and concerning” The article goes on to state that “…two years of unprecedented stress and disruption…has had an enormous psychological toll on Kiwis - and the burden is growing.”

According to Dr Gabor Mate - renowned doctor, author and expert in the field of holistic mental health, addiction and trauma - “Major factors for stress are uncertainty, loss of control, lack of information, insecurity & conflict” (2). This clearly indicates that individual biology and genetics alone do not cause stress and disease, but that our unique and personal relationship to our environment plus the culture we live in greatly impacts our wellbeing.

Let’s take a look at the modern culture with which we co-exist.

Modern society’s advertising bias is designed to subtly condition us to believe we aren’t quite good enough, but if we bought the latest X, Y or Z life would miraculously improve. Social media fashions imaginary, perfect lives and perfect people, that cause many youngsters to feel shame and unworthiness in comparison. We are continually bombarded by negative news media and under pressure to be busy and productive (even if detrimental to our core wellbeing). We are being regularly conditioned to keep consuming (and then potentially form unhealthy attachments to) media, retail, food, alcohol, information, technology and more.

Consumerism has become the norm, with shopping a commonplace pastime. We are hooked on addictive devices that can interrupt real time social engagement. These devices can cultivate an ‘instant gratification’ feedback mindset, keeping our attention hooked into a virtual world that reduces conscious awareness and engagement. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that technology has many benefits. Without tech I would be writing this with a pencil and posting it to your house! Still, have you caught yourself scrolling mindlessly lately? I know I have. When I notice the behaviour and “zoom out” I feel my breath is shallow and my body tense, almost frozen. A state I wasn’t even aware of as I was scrolling.

Is it any wonder that we lose our true, deeper sense of self and experience greater stress, suffering and disease due to marinating in this pervasive cultural soup that encourages us to disengage? Our modern societal framework is largely based on the premise that happiness lies just out of reach, and certainly outside of you. The culture of individualism has put the onus squarely on each of our shoulders to cope and continue, as though external factors are not at play.

In a recent podcast Dr Gabor Mate stated that we are living in a “toxic culture, [that] doesn’t support healthy human growth, but promotes and rewards individualism, isolation…”

So far so bleak right? Bear with me it’s about to get better…

I believe that many people experiencing mental health challenges have lost their connection to their inner environment. Their inner experience is dominated by thinking and rumination (consciously or unconsciously) rather than feeling. This can be a very lonely place. With so much focus on external experiences, material objects, sensory distractions, and with little societal emphasis on the importance of a healthy relationship with oneself, it is easy for us to get lost and not realise why.

We must appreciate the importance of ‘zooming out’ and finding stillness on a regular basis, rather than continuing to scamper ever faster on the wheel of daily life.

The term mental health is functional but limited and misleading. Here’s why. The symptoms of stress and mood disorders are not exclusively experienced by the mental faculties (3), and the mind is not separate from the body. Everything we experience as a response to the external environment is registered first in the body, before the mind has identified or labelled it. Every emotion and every feeling happens in the body, just like every thought impacts our inner physiological ecology in some way. So given this fact, doesn’t it make sense to involve the body in any therapeutic process designed to restore balance?

When we aren’t used to being connected to our inner experience the body can feel like an unsafe and uncomfortable place to be. In times of stress we then disengage from feeling our inner reality (what the stress feels like coursing through the body, how the mind is responding to perceived threat). Yet until we have the courage and support to turn inwards, to face and feel what is there, we will simply stockpile the stress, negative thoughts and painful emotions until they wreak increasing havoc with our nervous system, mind and body. It is literally like polishing the exterior of your car till gleaming but never servicing what’s under the bonnet, and expecting it to run smoothly for years.

It doesn’t have to be this way…

Tune in for Part 2 - coming soon!

1 - NZ Herald 22nd April 2022, “Great Minds : NZ’s Mental Health ‘Crisis’”
2 - The Rich Roll Podcast - #188 - Dr Gabor Maté On How Trauma Fuels Disease
3 - NCBI - STRESS AND HEALTH: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants

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Is Our Culture Making Us Sick? - Part 1

Yoga for Body and Mind