I am saying that the very process of labelling my issues as "mental health problems" and deciding the solution is services, rather than kindness and friendship, is othering and unhelpful. Why the false distinction between the mentally ill and mentally well? We are all humans.
Yes. we are all human. Humans are diverse. With diverse issues and diverse needs and diverse rates of suicide, lifespan, risk of being murdered, risk of falling foul of the criminal justice system, risk of lower educational attainment, risk of chaotic lives and .... risk of social isolation. And one form of diversity is MHI, which typically does not go hand in hand with a cheerful risk load.
Is human contact and inclusion an important aspect of relieving the often deeply painful aspects of getting the short MH straw? yes.
And can it play a role in reducing the rate and frequency of the more difficult to live through/with symptoms and the pain associated with them ? yes.
Does it make life better for most people? Yes.
And can we increased this contact and inclusion with a disproportionate focus (and high levels of anger) when there is no evident ill will behind a faux pas ? Nope. Cos it doesn't exactly scream "great mate material" It does a fine job in inducing though.
Will making a lesser priority of the slash and burn going on in medical/support services help with increasing spontaneous human contact and inclusion ? No. It will only make it even thinner on the ground.
Because without adequate medical/support services ever greater numbers of people are going to suffer a worse version of their symptoms, for longer periods. Which has been known to do an exceedingly efficient job of pushing even more people away and increasing isolation and exclusion.
Not least because the more (perfectly understandably) preoccupied somebody is with managing the pressing issues caused by their symptoms, the less able they are to offer friendship as well as receive friendship. One way friendships are less attractive than the 2 way kind. The pool of people willing to participate shrinks. Social isolation increases.
But you are right about us all being human. And the human condition is liberally painted with opportunities for heavy burdens, pain, "more shit than I can deal with" and running out of energy for anybody other than oneself cos one's knees are buckling under the strain of life rain.
There is no distinction between the mentally well and the mentally not so well in the above. In the sense that none of us are immune. Most of people are affected at some point. Many spend inordinately long periods of their lifespan in a state somewhere between "oufff, I've got nothing left to give" and "Fuck my life, this is unbearable".
We all have our own short straws, bad luck, results of poor judgement and crushing curve balls to manage. Precious few are skipping through the years without a care in the world.
Worth bearing in mind next time the ruler comes out to rap "no evident ill will" knuckles. We aren't the only ones with troubles and burdens. An overly aggressive defence of minor infractions of vocabulary (etc) that bore no ill will can and does lead to somebody already dealing with a lot getting verbally battered from all angles.
Which again, doesn't exactly do much to big up our image as "good mate material".
In all honesty I absolutly do not understand how the logic gap between
-"more friendship, kindness and inclusion is needed"
and
-the popularity of a "solution" based on being unfriendly, unkind and employing excluding measures (like flaming' dog piling, shunning and ostracising) as "just desserts".
It doesn't half look like like "my toes hurt like fuck, I know, I'll shoot myself in the foot. That'll help"