The Epidemic of mental health issues
Western society is very keen on competition children are taught to compete, being content is a bad thing. We are not allowed to sit on our laurels, we’ve gotta do better, we’ve gotta do more, and strive, there is no place for losers. The problem with this psychology is that it will organise people’s minds, so says Professor Paul Gilbert. We are beginning to reap the whirlwind in massive mental health issues, which are increasing in younger people, levels of depression are rising. We know that 1 in 2 people will have some kind of mental health issue in their life. If we look at the World Health Organisation data on the burden of disease, we see depression rising. If you look at the burden of disease for women in the world ages 14-45 in developed countries, the greatest burden is depression by a long way. So the conclusion is that we have a serious epidemic of mental health problems in our world today partly because of the way our mind works and partly because of the zeitgeist of competition and striving. We see in the Psalms examples of mental anguish and Jesus also suffered mentally in the garden of Gethsemane, but came through. Invite someone to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
