Why we should rethink what mental health means (w/ Sandy Allen)

How to Be a Better Human

TED

Self-improvement, Education

4.2 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Audio Collective.
0:04.0	You're listening to How to Be a Better Human.
0:10.0	I'm your host Chris Duffy.
0:12.0	Jumping into cold water water talking to a friend especially if they make me laugh
0:16.2	getting enough sleep and exercising even the tiniest bit those are a few of the things that help me when I am struggling mentally.
0:23.0	And I've been thinking about that list more explicitly this week,
0:27.0	because our guest Sandy Allen is a writer who covers mental health and madness.
0:31.0	But Sandy also sends out a newsletter called
0:33.6	what's helping today. And I think that framing, what is helping today, is a really
0:38.0	different way of thinking about how we take care of our minds. Because often
0:41.9	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.
0:50.0	And there's an even greater need for specific concrete actions when things get more serious.
0:56.0	That's something that Sandy looked at in his first book, a kind of miraculous paradise, a true story about schizophrenia.
1:02.0	The book is half a memoir by Sandy's uncle
1:05.4	and half Sandy putting his uncle's words into context both in terms of their family
1:09.5	and in terms of society at large. Here's a clip of Sandy talking about that book. So I've tried to in the
1:16.4	first book and in my continued work I guess just continue to not just like share a story
1:21.7	about a quote-unquote crazy person, but do so in a way
1:25.1	that actually engages with the science and the history and asks us all like,
1:29.7	hey, what if we really tune into the present of this issue?
1:33.7	A lot of us I think wind up interacting
	...

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