I have to say that the idea of “solving” mental health seems to be one of the problems with “mental health.”

As someone who has experienced a lot of mental health challenges and worked my way to stability this idea of “solving” has been at the root of much of my challenges.

It was a good hook and I am glad the article shifted away from that in part. I believe it is incredibly important to start looking at people’s personal stories and the peer movement.

I know personally as someone who was diagnosed with bipolar, who has experienced extreme manic states as well as lifelong depression and PTSD one of the parts of my healing has been moving away from “solving” anything.

Today my depression is pretty much gone. It may flare up once or twice a year for a day or two rather than the decades of my earlier life.

I know how to handle when I’m triggered and can process that and my mania may strike once every couple of years for a day and I know how to address it.

None of this is a result of “solving” neither medication or psychiatric treatment, those always made it worse for me. Although I do know people who benefit from medication.

What I’ve come to realize is that rather than having a “broken brain” and an illness that needs solving, I have a brain that allows for unique experiences. Some of those experiences are challenging. Others allow for an increased connection and gratitude for beauty, writing, empathy, and deep connection to others and the environment.

The mental health challenges of my brain didn’t need to be “solved,” I needed the tools to get through the challenges and the outlets to experience the blessings.

(Not to mention the support and resources to empower me during the process, which is incredibly hard to do in the Western economy where supportive communities are rare and many people struggle with poverty.)

When you look into peer movements and find people who have come to a point of balance and health they seem to focus more on the tools and the experiences than “solving” a broken brain.

Something I’m surprised doesn’t get more attention is the SAMSHA certified Peer Wellness program in the United States working on training and providing peer advocates for people who have to navigate the system.

You also find other peer networks like the Spiritual Emergency peer support groups in other organizations such as Shades of Awakening.

I know as someone who shares my story often and interviews people about their experiences a large part of what is missing in the medical community is the ability to find meaning and peace in our experiences.

Our experiences are pathologized and treated as diseases or cancers to be gotten rid of.

This denies people the ability to integrate and assimilate the most intimate part of themselves, the consciousness with which we experience reality.

There are several studies exploring the effects of the Western model on mental health versus other culture’s and they often show that societies with different attitudes to mental health have significantly different experiences of it.

Often times these differences in belief systems allow for greater functionality and meaning in the individual’s life in cultures that refrain from pathologizing mental health. (Solving the broken brain.)

Part of what may be required is a paradigm shift that moves away from “solving” the faulty hardware of a machine and starts treating people as humans with a meaningful story.

Which as you point out has been important amongst peer groups which often focus more on narratives, meaning, and mutual understanding.