Contours of This Mental Health Space

Why, indeed why, when so many articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos are already vying for attention in the mental health space are we putting another boat in the same waters? This is a logical question and we have no spectacular response to it. Our response is somewhat prosaic, nothing heroic or outstanding. We believe there is more to mental health than what medical professionals profess or diagnostic manuals neatly sum up. These are not easily diagnosable realities lurking in people's brains, biochemistry and hormones, while that may be a small component too.

Mental health, or wellbeing are "felt" realities; subjective, not objective truths. An objective truth is verifiable by multiple people and holds true for everyone, shows the same outcomes. A subjective truth is individualistic; what holds true for one may not make any sense to another. Truth not in a universal, sense but true for the individual, for the moment. Someone may be afraid of snakes, scorpions, or let's say heights. Another may see them as a fearful person or even cowardly. But when there are no snakes, scorpions or heights around the same individual may exhibit no fear.

Exactly in this manner, an individual may have an extreme emotional state- a bout of rage, or a moment of emotional breakdown into tears, or a sudden fright, inability to function due to certain stressors beyond their capacity. This can even for a short time alter their biological metrics, for instance the heartbeat may increase, the temperature rise or there may be breathlessness. Seen from a medical perspective these "symptoms" may well correspond with the signs visible in a particular diagnosis. Remove the stressor the "symptoms" disappear.

The individual mental health space is shape shifting not static. Therefore people need to understand they are not caught in prisons of their mind if they have not lost the capacity to look beyond it. If they have lost that capacity then they will need to re-learn better patterns of behavior for stressors, not those that derail their lives into diagnostic oblivion. Handing over one's mental wellbeing to an outsider helps only as long as that outsider is willing to return it with due respect and scope for empowerment to the vulnerable individual. If the goal of the professional is to carve out professional success and reward from the pain of another it suits their interest to let the sufferer remain a client/patient or something else. In that case the professional serves their self-interest first, not that of the person seeking their services.

We want to share with this community that mental health is a daily negotiated reality and no professional has mastery over it. We are among those who have had close brushes with mental health systems and psychiatry, what we bring here is not their knowledge. Though most of us recovered, it was not due to psychiatric treatments and methods. We learnt other ways, in so many parts of the world we took back our stories from medical professionals. And we are here to offer the same to you, the reader who is now curiously looking around. We want to facilitate your wellbeing and health, at least from mental health issues. These are the foundations of our intentions for this mental health space. We hope to find resonances, friends and more peers. May our tribe increase.