A Positive Possibility: Viewing Mental Disorders as Natural and Resourceful Responses to Adversity!
In a thought-provoking study, anthropological scientists ask if mental ‘disorders’ such as anxiety, depression, or ADHD are not ‘disorders’ at all but resourceful responses to challenging environments. It is exciting because if we frame these issues as natural responses to adversity, they become strategies that individuals can examine, understand, and change. Further, the authors bring up the limiting issue of labeling. They challenge us to continue to expand our understanding of the root causes of mental ‘disorders’ so we shift towards an informed, constructive purpose: to describe these conditions as understandable responses individuals have enacted to preserve their well-being. Viewing these ‘disorders’ as active, understandable and respectable responses to challenges enables hope and inspiration for overcoming adversity and finding peace and joy in life.
Much like physical pain is designed to alert us to something that is wrong with the body, the authors of this study liken worry or anxiety to ‘mental pain’ designed to alert us to harm or threats in our environment. For example, helping anxious patients often involves examining and solving the causes of fear or worry along with medically treating the chemical imbalances or resulting health problems. As busy as our lives are, one does not have to look far to see the sources of stress. With increasing daily input from social media, the internet, jobs, family, friends, society, etc., it is easy to see why we are often overwhelmed.
As an adult and an educator, I have often wondered about the rise in anxiety in people of all ages, and why we struggle so. As a student of neuroscience, I look to the undeniable fact that as an incredibly evolved species, we live our lives within a nervous system that was never wired for nor caught up to the consistently over-stimulated lives we live today. I found this study deeply inspiring because as humans, are wired to overcome adversity. Neuroscience has shown us that we can actively create new responses to old worries, labels, and experiences. With new, consistent habits of thought, we can proactively create the lives we truly desire and be our own reliable sources of resiliency and comfort.
When we widen our perspective to see these ‘disorders’ as appropriate responses to adversity in addition to a medical issue or chemical imbalance, we have the chance to change. In our modern society, we have created numerous environments that are not compatible for many individuals. In an environment that feels unsafe, it is difficult to feel open to learning or capable let alone successful. As biological beings, our nervous systems find ways for us to handle threats with such natural responses as worry, self-doubt, or negative behaviors. These coping mechanisms create changes in our brains, behavior and in our ways of being. The good news is that with awareness, intent, and practice, neuroscience has shown us we can change these patterns and move towards flourishing instead of languishing. We can heal.
The researchers of this study present an environmental view of ADHD which feels exceedingly true to me. It is helpful for parents of children with hyperactivity to see that it is often the classroom setting or structure that makes their child ‘wrong’. It is difficult for these individuals to sit for hours with activity. The student is then labeled ADHD which often sets up a negative cycle that I feel deeply dishonors and disables such children. The child comes to believe that they are broken in some way, and this often limits their success. Next, parents struggle to help this child cope in the classroom and at home by trying medications and behavior therapy. Yet, years ago, when life was exploring, surviving in new territories, or inventing new ways of travel or farming, these same individuals were natural leaders. Their qualities were admired, coveted, and considered desirable. The authors of the study describe the typical classroom setting as an ‘evolutionary mismatch’ for ADHD students. Widening our perspective to see the root of this ‘disorder’ amplified by the constructed environment of a classroom creates a positive and hopeful place for individuals to change and create powerful strategies for success. As parents and educators, we can help children see themselves as healthy and whole. Long term, this study calls for a possibility for sweeping changes in our education system and even social reform.
You can review the entire study here if you wish. For me, this expansive research and thinking naturally creates positive possibilities for us as individuals, parents, and teachers. I personally hope it continues to grow! This powerful view of labels like social anxiety or ADHD as resourceful human responses provides the opportunity for growth, healing, and healthy well-being. These conditions can be viewed as a source of important information that gives us new directions for finding personal peace, happiness, and success.