(Having examined the mental health crisis from various angles in the prior two essays…”

               Third, once the big picture view has solidified as much as possible in our mind, we must think logically in terms of causality and find what led us to this current state so we can start at the right place to untangle the mental health knot.  Working past the superficial statistical and diagnostic layer, we need to understand the factors leading the collective society to these diagnoses and descriptions.  To solve problems and lower statistics, we must aim at deeper changes than just these numbers.  In medicine, we regularly consider whether genetics or the environment are contributing to a disease we are treating or diagnosing.  In functional medicine, we search deeper for root causes, the deepest factor underlying a disease process which when addressed allows the body to move towards healing and restoration.  Here in the broader world of mental health across communities, states, and our nation, we need the same effort towards root cause analysis.  By understanding how our child’s shoelaces came to the present state and by asking the right questions we can simplify and accelerate the actual un-entanglement.  Although the present complexity of mental health in our society immeasurably surpasses that of tangled shoelaces, identifying the contributing factors logically and chronologically for either challenge is required to formulate hopeful solutions.

               Hints of contributing factors and candidates for root causes have already been seen in the prior examination of the big picture.  We have societal changes which are impacting upon human capacities and expectations.  Individuals and their various groups cannot sustain the weight of this burden being expected of them.  Human beings have limits in time, energy, knowledge, emotional capacity, mental capacity, physical capacity, and resources among other limits.  As our society seems to be pressing higher and higher levels of stress upon us, eventually the stress and burdens of life will overcome these limits.  Life for many has become one big multitasking juggling act in which technological advancements, work demands, life fulfillment expectations, lack of self-care and relationship attention, isolation, family breakdown, and governmental pressures have combined with many other factors to push people over their edges into mental illness. This is layered on top of physiologic burdens of tons of toxic chemicals pouring into our world daily.  However, despite their individual and collective contributions to the mental health tangled knot, none of these contributing factors actually get to the root of the problem.   

               Instead of serving as a root cause directly, each of these can be traced back to our spiritual view of physical reality which is where the untangling of the knot must begin.  If you agree, then you can proceed to the spiritual explanation.  If you are unsure or disagree, take the time to read the remainder of this section and better understand why the materially directed approach to untangling the knot only addresses portions of the tangle at a superficial level without going deep enough to address the knot as a whole.

               Each of these  materialistically focused contributors deserve some elaboration here. First, the hastening speed of technology drives our lives both at work and at home to accomplish more and more, while it promises to make our lives easier.  Although technology has enabled us to do things unheard in generations past, technology also creates situations where are forced  to move faster in more directions.  Multiple lines of communication such as texting, multiple emails, and other instant messaging, on top of phone and face to face means we sometimes have multiple conversations going simultaneously.  As technology moves faster, we no longer have the luxury of thinking for a time as we wait for computers to process or for others to respond.  Now the multiple lines of communication can be rapid fire back and forth.  This is difficult enough at work to keep up with.  Even in our personal life with text or other messaging services, we feel awkward if a message is left unanswered for a few minutes.  We can feel ghosted – and stressed — if someone misses an email for 3 days and doesn’t respond. 

               The amount of information we can access through the internet and smartphones can also overwhelm us.  Knowing more about what is happening in another country where we can do nothing about the depressing news can lead to anxiety and hopelessness.  This can later lead to guilt and regret.   Simultaneously, excessive access and attention to the broader world’s events may draw us away from time with family and face to face friends leading to isolation and more shallow relationships.  This can increase your sense of isolation.

               These communication expectations are compounded by expectations that we should be accomplishing so much more given this technology.  We expect greater returns from our time which is stressful on already stressed human capacities, and this makes us more heavily dependent on these technologies. We may keep up for a time until this technology falters.  The complexity of technological advances then means that we need more experts to fix overly complex electronics or programs.  The days of fixing something yourself are becoming rarer and rarer.  Instead of being empowered by the technologies, we can become trapped by them.  Emotionally the stress from needing the technology to meet our own and other’s expectations can outweigh the increased capacities they offer.  Life with the technology can become more stressed than life prior to the technology.

               While we could push back directly against technology in various ways, this approach has minimal chance of significant impact.  The world around us continues to depend on technology’s present contributions to daily life and excitedly awaits the next innovation.  We can develop better patterns of interaction with technology, but the impact will only go so deep as an individual effort.  A clear strategy against the onslaught of technology requires a deeper understanding so that we know how to respond to inevitable changes to society brought on by technological advances.  Ignoring the problem or responding with a simplistic approach will only make it worse.  This deeper understand demands a spiritual view of reality. 

               Beyond the effects of technology on the demands of work life, several general economic factors and trends are combining to increase the pressure of contemporary life.  To some degree the rising cost of living due to rising inflation presses upon nearly everyone.  As a result of competing for these tightening budget’s expenditures, businesses are constantly working on efficiency and productivity leads to requiring more and more of employees.  In the world of big business, many employees become little more than a cog in the machinery of the 100’s, or even 1000’s of employees who can be replaced at the drop of a hat.  The pressures of having to work more and work harder to keep up the family economy while recognizing that your company’s leaders could replace you with a hundred others willing to do the same work can create a lot of stress, increasing the pressure for developing mental illness.

               While we could voice louder and louder protest against the rising costs of living brought on not just by our human desire for more, but also by the clear mismanagement of our economy by government, this will not change the momentum of society.  We can implement better budgets and set more realistic expectations for what we can afford, but at some point, we will cut all the excess and inefficiencies yet still face the need to work harder and longer for the basics of life. We must look at the economics of life that lead to inflation from an upstream viewpoint as well as understanding the purpose and function of labor in the flow of life.  Only by taking a spiritual view of these realities can we respond in a deeper and longer-lasting way that offers hope of providing for ourselves and others.

(The next installment of this series will continue to examine these stressors)