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Politicians can’t solve America’s mental health crisis

Try as they might to appear as if they’re doing something about it, politicians can’t solve America’s mental health crisis.

There’s no question that America is in the middle of a mental health crisis. And try as they might to appear as if they’re doing something about it, this is a problem that politicians can’t solve. 

For perspective, suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and it is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10-14 and 25-34. Suicides increased 36 percent between 2020 and 2021. 

But suicides aren’t the only indicators that something bad is brewing in our communities. In 2020, 21 percent of adults in America were said to have a mental health condition, with young people aged 18-25 accounting for close to a third of the mental health problems. Violent crime, drug and alcohol addiction, and prescription psychotropic drug use are also endemic. 

To address these issue, politicians have created and funded suicide prevention hotlines, expanded medical welfare programs, and banned certain kinds of weapons. But all of these responses miss the larger point: Why are people mentally unwell? Why are people chronically depressed? 

The short answer is there are many things that are weighing people down, including, but not limited to:

  • Social media/phone addiction. 
  • Chronic loneliness.
  • Fear regarding viruses, climate, and money.
  • Lack of proper nutrition, exercise, and sunlight.
  • Chemicals in food, air, and medicine.

But if you’re waiting for politicians to deliver the answer to these problems, don’t. Many of these are caused by or reinforced by government or by special interest groups that lobby local, state, and federal governments. For example, the USDA has long provided flawed recommendations for American diets. The result has been an epidemic of obesity, and the effects of obesity are not limited to the obvious physical concerns. Mind and stomach are ultimately linked. 

Accordingly, there is no legislation that any city council, state legislature, or Congress has written, passed, or might pass that will level up humanity and spare us from the current crisis. There is no law or ordinance capable of resetting our minds to a happier state.

In reality, the power to heal will either never come, or it will come from ourselves, from our connection to one another, and our connection to nature. It’s up to us to do it ourselves. There is a plea in the forgoing words. Please, whenever you see a headline about a shooting, a suicide, an overdose, and so on, don’t depend on someone in elective office to help. And if you are an elected official, we’d ask kindly that you stop believing that you have the program, the law, or appropriation that will save the day. You don’t. 

The longer we wait for a political solution, the longer it will take our species to get better. The goal of Atman Rising is to provide another perspective that focuses on the root causes of America’s mental health crisis, and then recommend wholesale cultural changes that lead to happiness and human flourishing. 

More substantively, Atman Rising hopes to provide a catalyst that leads to a better future for ourselves, children, grandchildren, and their children and grandchildren. This is our opportunity to not only deploy the solutions we’ve always had within us, but to shape the future in provocatively positive ways we can only imagine.

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