Mental health

Hi to everyone reading this blog.

One of the main themes that forms the bones of my new work is mental health. I have spent a lot of time with Raymond this week and writing the chapter that describes his mental breakdown was very taxing for me to say the least. I had to go to places in my mind that I have not been to for a while, to do the writing justice. I don't know if I would ever attempt to write a chapter like that if I had never been there myself to some degree.

I have thought much on this theme of mental health over the years and had previously attempted writing about it, but my characters and voice were immature and so were my technical capabilities as a writer. But more than anything, I had not met and spoken to enough people to get a broad enough landscape in my mind to write with sincerity on the topic.

Mental health issues are reaching epidemic proportions in Australia, and though I cannot vouch for the rest of the world, everything I hear seems to suggest that this is also the case in most of the developed nations - maybe there is something in that. Westernised society of fast-paced-big-city lifestyles may be having a negative impact on our mental health; developing nations, on the other hand, may have too many other epidemics to worry about - like famine, disease and war -for mental health issues like stress and anxiety to be major issues. Hmmm...this may be naive and too simplistic a view. Anyway, I am no expert on developing countries but have lived in developed countries most of my life, so I'll stick to what I am familiar with.

In Australia, there seems to be a growing number of people in the mid-to-late 20's to around 40 that are experiencing a feeling of being lost and unfulfilled. Maybe the mid-life crisis has shifted forward 10 years to reflect our faster pace of life. I am not talking about those who have medically diagnosed mental health problems like depression, bi-polar and anxiety related disorders, for which they are taking medication or undergoing cognitive therapies. My interest is in those men and women with no history of mental health issues in their family, no predisposition to mental health issues through abuse of alcohol or drugs. I am specifically interested in men and women who have been well adjusted and relatively happy with their lot until all of a sudden, seemingly out of the blue (or so it seems to the sufferer) they experience panic or anxiety attacks, feelings of melancholy and isolation and a feeling of being lost.

In my experience and talking to many others, there are nearly always underlying issues that may have been suppressed that come to the fore and trigger all the feelings mentioned above. I am sure this will also be the case for Raymond Figg. It's the triggers that intrigue me, what are they, and are there more of them in the modern world? Did communities of the past experience as many mental health challenges and if not why not? Maybe we have too much time on our hands to think, maybe the modern world allows us to be selfish; a world where we can exist by ourselves without depending on others for food, shelter and entertainment. We no longer need love or community to exist but at what cost?

As I learn more about Raymond, I learn that he has, even without knowing it himself, started a process of isolation long before his breakdown. Isolating his feelings, his emotions, isolating himself in front of the computer, the TV, in his work. We can have people around us and still be isolated and it is becoming clear to me that this is the case for Raymond.

Isolation is just one of the triggers for unhappiness, at least for Raymond, but there are many more: lost dreams, crappy job, everyday like the last, no adventure, no magic, broken heart, lost love, grief and so on. I wonder if I have missed any. Raymond is not dying, he is not physically ill, he has food, shelter, income and love if he wants it - but - he is desperately lost and unhappy. I wonder how many 'Raymond Figg's' are out there? I wonder.

joe