Too many of us have been harmed by bootstrap counseling and pop "psychology."
The US romanticizes the vision of the "self-made" person. Our sociocultural models are built around hyper-individualism, to the point of blaming individuals for systemic problems.
This is antithetical to mental health.
Yes, we each have personal accountability. And also, we are all products of genetics, cultural conditioning, and life circumstances. Each person is an act of co-creation between their intentions and their environment.
It hurts to see people (even licensed pros) peddling Pinterest-style self-care.
Supposedly, every depressed person needs to just drink more water, go outside, stop scrolling, and get more sleep.
If they don't, it's clearly their own fault if they "decide" to stay depressed by neglecting healthy habits.
This is stigma. The truth is, mental illness is not a personal moral failing.
And intersectional folx experience even more marginalization and less compassion. Often, the degree of systemic harm is also proportional to how much the individual has been taught to blame themselves. And overcoming that mentality requires intensive effort.
Yet we breathe this story. Every time someone says "just journal more, take a deep breath, have a better attitude" — instead of actually listening and responding to our experiences — the victim blaming is reinforced.
Instead of spreading well-intentioned shame ("you should exercise more"), we need to acknowledge marginalization burnout.
The vast majority of us are bonded by class struggle, financial insecurity. Even middle class folx can be just one medical emergency away from crisis. The 2020 pandemic proved that.
And while folx who are financially secure (for now) aren't living with the exact same survival mode as housing insecure individuals, both groups (and those in-between) are all dealing with nervous systems in distress.
So we get to acknowledge that we are part of a dysfunctional community, and this limits are self-healing abilities.
Let's end the era of "just do more, try harder."
Let's normalize and facilitate rest, fun, and reconnecting with ourselves.
No more self-shaming whenever rest and fun are scarcely accessible.
We deserve relief from the internalized violence of capitalism.
As long as we deny the existence of marginalization burnout, we're perpetuating the bootstrap myth.
Dismantling this story of shame is how we start decolonizing mental healthcare.
