I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Gabor Maté’s work, he’s a well-respected Canadian psychologist and medical doctor. But I feel like some of the things he has to say could definitely support your cause. For one he says that the economy runs on people’s traumas, meaning he believes that trauma, which is common these days (but still not a well-known fact), creates addictions in people. And the reason why people consume so much is because of their addictions. He also points out that it’s the system we live in, which he describes as ‘toxic’, that causes traumas in people (he also says that our system is not at all supportive of mothers).
I can answer questions on trauma if anyone is interested, I’m no expert but somewhat well-informed on the subject or I can at least cover the basics. Or I would recommend reading the book Healing Trauma by Peter Levine which is short and easy, it also comes with exercises you can do from home to heal your own traumas. The documentary The Wisdom of Trauma is also very good.
And this is all science-based information, although I’m not entirely sure what is his own opinion and what is backed by science. But trauma is well-known amongst therapists. The good news is that there’s some relatively easy way for people to heal their traumas or to at least improve their symptoms (trauma can cause all sorts of symptoms). I used a method called Somatic Experiencing and got amazing results. I’m just thinking that this really supports your cause, if people start to become more aware of their traumas and are able to heal them, it could mean that people will have less addictions and therefore will start consuming less and this would affect the economy negatively (or you could say positively). Which creates more incentive to change the system… Also, I think if people become more aware of the fact that the system they live in is toxic to their health in many ways AND even traumatizes their children, I can’t imagine that anyone would want that to continue.
Something else he said is that he thinks that people from the Right are ‘emotionally shut down’. Which means that if someone experiences too much pain they can shut down emotionally, and no longer feel things as a normal, healthy person would. So the question is whether someone who’s in a position of power should be unable to feel empathy? Is this something that should be allowed in our society?
I honestly don’t know much about politics, but want to learn, but I know a little about psychology and I often wonder how what we know about psychology could be applied to politics or how it could be applied to change society in general. I might be wrong, but I’m seeing some huge potential in this type of information.
How this is also very powerful is that people can see more of how their society affects them personally. If it’s affecting your own health and your own children, you’re much more likely to take action and want change than if you’re talking about society and politics. I think for a lot of people that can seem a little more remote or out of reach…
Also if anyone here is struggling with their own addictions, I would encourage you to try Somatic Experiencing to see if it helps. Medical doctors are not trained in emotional trauma, so there’s a chance they would diagnose someone with a medical illness when they’re actually experiencing symptoms caused by trauma.
I wouldn’t mind hearing people’s thoughts on this… I know this information can be somewhat ‘shocking’ when you first hear it. But you’re better off knowing than not knowing, at least you can do something about it. I would suggest looking up Gabor Maté and Peter Levine’s YouTube videos for more information.
I feel like saying that economy runs on trauma is a commentary on the symptoms of an economy based on ruthless extraction of surplus value and exploitation of nature to line the pockets of the bourgeoisie.
Absolutely, it is. 👍
I’m aware of Maté’s work. I listened to a democracy now interview with him when his book came out, and his son was on a TERF “Marxist” pod I listened to at the time. Along this line of thinking I am reminded of on the Marx Madness podcast where Sungmanitou keeps saying that communist groups should be providing childcare because that will free up time for parents to participate in the movement (as people with children are most likely to care about the future). I’m sure this would also work with what you’re saying by preventing trauma and hopefully instilling better values.
I actualy think mental health is critical for national security so I agree.
Right? What are we doing if our leaders are mentally ill? Not that anyone is perfectly healthy. But I would think being ‘emotionally shut down’ is a major concern? Someone is making decisions that have a high impact on the population and they can’t even feel empathy? Clearly that doesn’t work. :-/
Exactly. This is why term limits should be at the Soviets’ pleasure.
I think even just the term “mental health” obfuscates the fact that its really just about people’s general wellbeing. Poor “mental health” is just the result of living in a morally and culturally bankrupt society where people’s fundamental social needs are not met.
That’s exactly what he says, but I feel like science can provide proof of this now, even though it was already obvious. 🙄 He says ‘It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society’. From a young age, I always felt like something was ‘wrong’, but didn’t know what it was… I more often felt like there was something wrong with me or with the fact that no one was talking about it. Personally I always felt like the system I live in was very much against me, just trying to trick me into getting my money all the time… They would even ask me to do unethical things in the workplace, which didn’t seem right. And I live in Canada, where things are not so bad, but still not great either.
I’ve been thinking on my white anglo upbringing a lot as well, we are literally socialized through threats to get in line. From the beginning we are not even raised properly as children
I believe it… It’s like order and control takes priority, nobody cares about our health and well-being, maybe not even your parents. How can you be healthy when your parents, your employer and your society doesn’t even care about you and your feelings. :-/
No time to be a human being, your training as an oppressor starts from day 1
You’re right, we’re just being trained to be good little workers. It’s such a sick society… not that work is not important, it is. There’s always a lot to get done. But we’re not working-machines either.
morally and culturally bankrupt society where people’s fundamental social needs are not met
This
Exactly, that’s how trauma happens. :(