malkavon (he/him)Mar 9, 2024
Emeritus Prof Christopher May

Here's the final section of a letter to the FT from Brendan Kelly (Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin) makes a crucial point...

While there is no doubting the problems of mental health, to treat all aspects of these personal travails as illness is to focus too much on the individual and allow our toxic society & workplaces to escape their share of the blame.

Absolutely right!

#mentalhealth #workers #healthcare

Mar 9, 2024 at 9:38amWeb
Show threadLoukas (They/Them) 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 what a hero!
Show threadKim Spence-Jones 🇬🇧😷Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 Amen! Reactive depression is not pathology, it’s entirely sane.
Show threadJames 🦉 #FBPE Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 Even for diagnosable mental health conditions that need treatment, many are caused or triggered by the workplace. And why is the workplace so stressful? Because we fear destitution. In the US you'd even lose healthcare, and they want that for the UK too. If people aren't threatened in the least to change employers like they do energy providers, then we'd no longer be a captive audience to bullies, incapable toxic middle managers and machiavellian greed driven executives.🖕🏼
Show threadJames 🦉 #FBPE Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 Indeed, how much toxicity arises from the bullies themselves being trapped? They are as much stuck with their victims as their victims are with them. Maybe, with true freedom, they'd happily fuck of somewhere else and dickhead around in peace. Sure they'll still be seeking narcissistic supply, but it'll be much easier to evade.
Show threadKim Spence-Jones 🇬🇧😷Mar 9, 2024
@freequaybuoy @ChrisMayLA6 One of the strongest arguments for UBI (and of course against it, for a certain sort of bastard)
Show threadJames 🦉 #FBPE Mar 9, 2024
@KimSJ @ChrisMayLA6 Aye! Libertarians call it communism - I call it a more competitive job market.
Show threadGeofCoxMar 9, 2024

@ChrisMayLA6

This cartoon graphically makes a similar point - with an added sideswipe at the over-exploitation of the environment:

Show threadAlexander KnochelMar 9, 2024

@GeofCox @ChrisMayLA6 Americans be like: I'm a psychological wreck bc I have 5 days off per year and can lose my health insurance any day if my employer feels like it, so I better

- go to therapy
- vote fascism
(choose one)

Show threadMaier AmsdenMar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 Whenever there's an incident (error/ injury) in a hospital, management does a "root cause analysis." Invariably, worker overload is cited as a cause, but it's almost never dealt with in any substantive way. Just throw some mindfulness and meditation exercises at them, and move on.
Show threadRick FalkvingeMar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 aka "Reacting negatively to hostile stimuli may in fact be a healthy reaction, and not an unhealthy one."
Show threadH4Heights 🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 My employer (and those of many others) employ this “treat people like shit and blame them when they complain” gaslighting approach too.
Show threadRuth 🇮🇪🇵🇸Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti (according to the internet)
Show threadrobcorneliusMar 9, 2024

@ChrisMayLA6

Its Catch-22 writ large.

If working makes us mentally ill then we must be insane to go to work. If we go to work we are by the bosses resoning not insane.

Bosses talk about being passionate about your work. Fuck that. The only reason I sit in front of a bank of screens all day writing code is that people pay me. If I had a choice I would be outdoors doing something else like shooting my longbow.

If work was as fucking amazing as the bosses make out they wouldn't pay us. They would charge us admission.

I guess if you are a billionaire CEO the tiny bit of "work" you do is fun, unless you are just a wage slave like the rest of us. If thats the case what is work *for*.

Work for wages is not natural.

Show threadRaymond RussellMar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6
You can really see why conservatives love the 'personal responsibility' dogma.
Work in a toxic environment - grow a pair.
Worried about fossil fuels killing the planet - personal carbon footprint.
The originators of the problem continue to cash in at the top while any problems downstream should be solved/absorbed by those experiencing the problem.
Show threadDeb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦Mar 9, 2024

@ChrisMayLA6 why do we continue to accept the euphemism "mental health" when we are actually talking about unhappy/unhealthy states?

This euphemism encourages us to confabulate relatively normal (if unpleasant, upsetting) levels of stress and anxiety with mental illness, which would benefit from skilled help.

Show threadTripleTom 🛞🎸💻🥋📻Mar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 it's not the people who are abused that are mentally ill... It's the people doing the abuse.
Show threadDaniel BlakeMar 9, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 Compare & contrast - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/54358729-a25f-4fa6-8fd5-07426d3c9a6c
Our disability benefits system invites abuse

Claiming mental ill-health makes too much financial sense but no major party will discuss the problem honestly

The Times