2023-07-10
31 分钟It feels like talking about mental health, in our workplaces, homes and schools, is not as unusual – or as risky – as it may have been until very recently. But what do we really mean when we talk about de-stigmatizing mental health – and what gets left out of the public conversation? Sandy Allen is a writer, mental health advocate, and the author of the book “A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia”. In this episode, Sandy speaks about the experience of writing a memoir about his uncle who lived with schizophrenia and what the process showed him about the diversity of the human mind and experience. Sandy then shares how he thinks and rethinks what “mental health” means, and imagines some of the ways we could begin to restructure society so everyone’s spirits and minds have access to equitable and dignified care. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts
Ted audio collective.
You're listening to how to be a better human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
Jumping into cold water, talking to a friend, especially if they make me laugh, getting enough sleep, and exercising even the tiniest bit.
Those are a few of the things that help me when I am struggling mentally.
And I've been thinking about that list more explicitly this week because our guest, Sandy Allen, is a writer who covers mental health and madness.
But Sandy also sends out a newsletter called what's helping today?
And I think that framing what is helping today is a really different way of thinking about how we take care of our minds, because often there's so much talk about self care or mental health, but very few details about what that actually looks like, what actions should you take?
And there's an even greater need for specific, concrete actions when things get more serious.
That's something that Sandy looked at in his first book, a Kind of Miraculous Paradise, a true story about schizophrenia.
The book is half a memoir by Sandy's uncle and half Sandy putting his uncle's words into context, both in terms of their family and in terms of society at large.
Here's a clip of Sandy talking about that book.
So I've tried to, in the first book and in my continued work, I guess, just continue to not just like share a story about a quote unquote crazy person, but do so in a way that actually engages with the science and the history and asks us all like, hey, what if we really tune into the present of this issue?
A lot of us, I think, wind up interacting with something like the mental health care system when we are already in crisis or in need, or we're already seeing a loved one struggle, or we don't have time to be thoughtful if we are already in an emergency.
And so I think a lot of my work is about adding that situational awareness ahead of time.
Over the course of this episode, we're going to talk a lot with Sandy about what it means to take care of your brain and of your mind.
And we're also going to talk about how we can talk more openly about the extremes of mental health and whether there might be new ways for us to think about them.
How can we not see some people as scary and instead as part of a spectrum of human experience that we can all see ourselves in and learn from?
But first, we're going to take a short break.
Don't go anywhere.