16 Comments
Aug 2, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

I wonder how much reducing use of Twitter would improve mental fitness? The roiling recriminations and resentments of Twitter can't be good for our mental fitness. In the last 15 years we have seen a large increase in psychological distress and anxiety - especially among younger people. I wonder how much of that is due to the way we consume information and the type of information we consume.

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Aug 2, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

For some time, I've come to the conclusion that mental fitness is a far more productive and helpful way of viewing the benefits of positive thinking. Being physically fit didn't prevent the bad luck of falling off your bike; positive thinking doesn't mean only good things will happen.

Of course, there's mental fitness in the sense of being "smart", and then in the sense of being happy (enough).

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Aug 2, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

For someone like myself, who has experienced bouts of mental illness at first hand since childhood, the single most extraordinary thing about COVID has been the normalization among Australians in general of those sentiments which we with mental illness have experienced anyway. Not long ago I stumbled upon a meme (American in origin) which I found remarkably relevant. It reads as follows (I've bowdlerized the original's coarse language):

"I said to my therapist a few days ago that 'I feel weirdly calm with all this coronavirus stuff. Everyone's panicking and I'm not and it makes me think I should' and my therapist replied 'that's because you were raised in chaos so you feel at home.' I F***ING SCREAMED [helpless laughter emoji]."

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Aug 2, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

Physical fitness analogy for mental health is interesting.

Recent research has not shown a strong biological cause for depression, it may not necessarily be a physical disease.

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Aug 2, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

You might try Mindwandering by Moshe Bar. It has all the flannel you expect in a book like this but some thoughts on positive activities one might engage in. Maybe start with the last chapter..

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Aug 4, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

Apologies if this comes across as a bit ‘New Age and Crystals’, but I personally find it difficult to distinguish between my own physical and psychological health, so strongly interwoven they are.

For example, I know from hard won experience that a consistent regime of meditation , physical exercise, consciously practicing gratitude, no alcohol, plenty of sleep, fresh air, avoiding toxic people (and media) and reading has me humming along nicely. Merely practicing the mental dimension of this regime is good and I feel better in myself as a consequence , but nowhere near as good as when an holistic approach is taken.

As an aside, the excellent ‘Lost Connections’ by Johann Hari explores many of the drivers of depression and exposes the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory as overblown and principally serving the interests of big pharma and the medical establishment.

I think we can only start to classify most ‘mental’ ailments as genuine illnesses when we reach the states like multiple personality disorders, Tourette’s, more extreme forms of PTSD, eating disorders, etc. You are right to point out that many experience depression as extended periods of a ‘bad mood’ and this can be most effectively self-managed by a combination of the physical-psychological techniques noted above. General maladies and melancholy have long been discussed in centuries old texts and are integral to the human condition. At a more extreme level, Frankl’s purpose-driven

antidote to depression (and of continuing life itself) give an insight into what appears to make us ‘tick’.

My point is, at the general level, we are wrong to compartmentalise health into ‘mental’ and ‘physical’ and a holistic approach is the only sustainable way to cope with the maladies associated with a highly dysfunctional Western ‘modern living’ (e.g. urbanised, alienated, overstimulated, over-prossessed, over-medicated).

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Aug 2, 2022Liked by John Quiggin

Commiserations. Some time ago I ran into the back of a truck on my bike. I dislocated my right elbow (and a few bruises, lucky eh?) I soon fell into a quite deep depression. I recovered my mental health when my physical health recovered. I think the mental and physical health are linked, particularly for those of us who are hooked on a diet of endorphins generated by vigorous exercise.

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An Indian person I worked with recently mentioned that he and other male friends meet regularly to meditate.

I thought that was pure genius and I hope one day to join them.

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