Our nation’s mental health (4)

What does it mean to nurture a nation’s mental health?

It is one thing to treat an individual. Even traditional notions of public mental health still focus on treating individuals, albeit on a massive scale. It is quite something else to treat a nation’s mental health. This requires stepping back, taking a sober assessment of the nation as a whole, and designing processes toward collective healing.

To begin to understand the Philippines of today is to understand our collective trauma. We have had a long history of colonization and occupation that has left us with indelible memories of subjugation and developed in us a cynicism toward a better future. This internalized oppression has led us to hate ourselves and each other in the unquestioned belief that it is better to be anything but Filipino. What else explains the long-standing culture of corruption in this country that has so far gone unchecked? If you love your country and the people in it, you wouldn’t steal, deceive, or hurt them. If you want the country to succeed, you would not bring it to its knees. If we are to engage in collective healing and break the cycle of oppression, we must actively strengthen our nation’s mental health.

Good collective well-being starts with a clear sense of identity. We must know who we are as Filipinos and what we stand for. This does not mean a narrow or rigid image of the Filipino. We should embrace our diversity and not force ourselves into homogeneity. Knowing who we are means knowing our shared history. What is our relationship with the past? Are we easily swayed by historical revisionism and negationism? It is important as a nation to remember in order to move forward. For us to grow, we must learn. For us to learn, we must remember.

We also need to assess our collective self-esteem. Are we proud of who we are as Filipinos? Are we proud of our nation and our community? Is our collective pride so fragile and easily threatened? Do we put ourselves and our community down? Do we feel ashamed of our country compared to others? Genuine self-esteem is not inflated—our assessment of our worth is grounded in both reality and potential. Let us also not conflate love of country for love of a particular government. We can be critical of our public servants while still loving our country. In fact, demanding accountability from our government can be a way of expressing that our country deserves better.

There can be no collective well-being without safety. Not feeling safe or secure is what drives people toward selfishness and away from community-building. When one feels unsafe, everyone else feels like a threat. We label others as enemies and think their destruction will give us peace. Only by cultivating a sense of safety can we begin to trust and care for others. The ability to trust others (with discernment!) is essential to growth and healing.

Do we feel safe enough to explore outside of our comfort zones? Are we overly afraid of change, to the point of clinging to the familiar even if they are ineffective and destructive? This is one reason why people keep voting the same ineffective and corrupt dynasties: Better the devil they know than the devil they don’t. This mindset betrays a deep sense of hopelessness for our future, the consequence of our chronic oppression. To break this cycle, we must resist the urge to give in to despair and fight for our future. We must nurture a better future by laying a good foundation for our children: quality education, adequate health care, and accessible nutrition. We must invest in long-term infrastructures and projects and not be content with band-aid solutions.

All nations go through periods of struggle and hardship. But these all need to be balanced with collective joy and ease. Are we bombarded with bad news or do we experience some wins every now and then? When will our commuters and pedestrians experience an increase in ease during their daily travels? When will our farmers get a reprieve from harsh market conditions?

How we treat each other also matters. Do we listen to each other? Do we take the time and effort to express and communicate ourselves to better each other’s understanding, or do we simply want to drown out other voices? When a national issue comes up, do we engage in dialogue, constructive criticism, and solution-building? Or do we focus on blaming others and making sure we escape from personal responsibility?

As mental health month draws to a close, I hope it is clear that the work is far from over—and that the work is worth doing. Cultivating good mental health is a continuous practice that requires both individual and collective efforts. In this way, mental health can be used as our guiding principle or value so that we think, feel, and behave in a way that is truly healing, not only for ourselves but for our community and our country.

—————-

[email protected]