Culture and Mental Health, Part 2

How to counteract our culture's negative effects on our own and others' mental health

Photo by Mark Hayward on Unsplash

Last week, I wrote about some ways cultural values and systems are harmful to our mental health:

Today’s post discusses ways to counteract our culture’s negative effects on mental health. The dominant culture in the United States (and some other nations) values profits more than people, conformity more than creativity, and competition more than collaboration. It teaches that anyone with the right mindset and work ethic can earn enough to support their family, enjoy life now, and save for retirement.

Those cultural priorities and values are especially harmful to the mental health of people who challenge them. Kids who don’t conform to social norms get mocked or bullied at school or online. Employees who refuse to do something they believe is unreasonable or unethical get fired or penalized in other ways. People who don’t earn a living wage or can’t afford to retire internalize society’s message that they are solely to blame for their financial problems.

So what can we do to counteract our culture’s destructive impacts on mental health? Here are three ways we can mitigate the damage, challenge harmful cultural values, and model healthier beliefs and behaviors:

Learn more about our culture’s negative effects on mental health and the actions experts recommend

The first step to solve any problem is to understand it. The more you know about the nature, causes, and scope of the problem, the easier it becomes to figure out the most effective methods to address it. One of the best ways to learn more about our culture’s impacts on mental health is to read what medical and mental health professionals and other experts have written about it.

I recently created a mental health bookstore to make it easy for interested readers to find and purchase the books I recommend. The links below are affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you use them to buy the books. Your purchases will also financially support independent bookstores instead of Amazon and its obscenely wealthy founder.

Last week’s article included a quote from The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, a lengthy but never boring book by Dr. Gabor Maté. The author shares examples from his own life, case studies, and the research and experiences of other experts to illustrate how culture affects both physical and mental health and what we can do about it. Here’s another quote from that book:

The roles we are assigned or denied, how we fit into society or are excluded from it, and what the culture induces us to believe about ourselves, determine much about the health we enjoy or the diseases that plague us. In this, and in many other ways, illness and health are manifestations of the social macrocosm. If the modern nuclear family forms the primary container for childhood development, that container is itself held within a larger context, formed by entities such as community, neighborhood, city, economy, country, and so on.

In our times, the context of all contexts is hypermaterialist, consumerist capitalism and its globalized expressions worldwide. Its fundamental—and, it turns out, quite distorted—assumptions about who and what we are show up in the bodies and minds of those living them out. ... Just as we are conditioned to fit into the family, even if that means a departure from our true selves, so we are prepped—one might even say groomed—to fulfill our expected social roles and take on the characteristics necessary to do so, no matter the cumulative cost to our well-being.

I also mentioned Sarah Fay’s memoir, Pathological: The True Story or Six Misdiagnoses. Her book contains a wealth of information about how each revision of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) adds new diagnoses and lessens the number, severity, and duration of symptoms necessary to qualify for common diagnoses like generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Here are some of the details she includes:

Allen Frances, one-time chair of the DSM-IV task force, is quoted as saying that DSM diagnoses confuse ‘mental disorder with the everyday sadness, anxiety, grief, disappointments, and stress responses that are an inescapable part of the human condition.’ …

Steve Hyman, another former NIMH director, called DSM diagnoses ‘fictive categories’ and the DSM ‘an absolute scientific nightmare.’ …

The DSM-5 clocks in at 947 pages with 541 diagnostic categories, compared to the scant 132 pages and 128 categories in the DSM-I.

Reading these two books made me more aware of the ways our economy revolves around keeping many of us anxious and depressed, then selling us medications and other products that promise to relieve our symptoms or make our lives better in other ways. Each book was eye-opening and upsetting to read, but also offered specific suggestions for improving our current culture and our mental health.

Thanks for reading this far! The other two suggestions for ways to improve our culture and mental health, along with the discussion in the comments, are exclusively for paid subscribers. An annual subscription is only $35, or you can use the free seven day trial to finish reading this article (and other paywalled articles in the archives).

Have civil conversations with people whose beliefs we don’t share or understand.

“Culture wars” and “cancel culture” have caused many of us to change how (or whether) we interact with others. We may only discuss certain topics with people who share our views. We may not talk about divisive issues at all, because we want to avoid conflict (that’s why my siblings and I don’t discuss religion or politics).

Or we may argue with anyone who says things we consider false, offensive, and/or dangerous. We want to believe that if we prove statements are not true or have had harmful consequences, people will no longer say or believe those things.

But these methods don’t adequately address the elephant in the room.

When we don’t discuss controversial cultural issues or only talk about them with people who agree with us, we don’t question our beliefs or the factors that shaped them. When we argue with people whose statements offend us, we don’t learn why they hold those beliefs. We don’t look for any shared interests that might enable us to bridge our differences. Worst of all, we reinforce our culture’s message that people who are different are dangerous and should be forced to conform.

It’s difficult to have meaningful and civil conversations with people whose views we strongly disagree with. Especially when we see their beliefs as a threat to our own or others’ lives or well-being.

But I know it’s possible because I’ve done it. Not often, and not perfectly, but I’ve done it. Those conversations have helped me resist the temptation to assume everyone who supports policies or espouses beliefs I find morally abhorrent is cruel. They have helped me understand how what we are taught and what we experience influences what we believe is true or morally acceptable. They have helped me get to know and admire people I usually avoid and criticize.

Create or join community groups

Studies show that small acts of kindness - things like paying compliments, helping someone carry groceries or packages, and providing meals - improve the mental health of both the giver and the recipient. You’ve probably experienced this; I certainly have.

Friendships and a sense of purpose are also correlated to better mental health and higher levels of happiness. And community groups provide all of the above. 12-step groups, faith communities, volunteer service organizations, and other groups have members who support each other. They often do community service projects that help others, too. They make it easier to make new friends and work together on an event or cause you are passionate about.

And if there’s not one in your area that appeals to you, it’s easy to find or create online communities for people interested in just about any activity or subject. I belong to two: Evolving Faith, which supports people whose religious beliefs are changing, and SPRING-NUTS, a worldwide Bruce Springsteen fan group.

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There are lots of other ways to help change the worst aspects of our culture. Some possibilities include:

• Donate to a nonprofit mental health organization or patient advocacy group

• Research proposed mental health legislation and advocate for or against it

• Become a peer counselor, sponsor, or mentor

• If you observe someone being harassed or threatened, support them and record the incident if you can safely do so

• Praise children for character traits like honesty, curiosity, or kindness at least as often as you praise them for specific achievements

What would you add to this list? Are there any mental health books or other resources that have helped you understand how our culture harms our mental health?