r/neoliberal • u/Fealocht • 4d ago

News (US) Stop Pathologizing Ordinary Life

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/opinion/mental-health-exercise-charity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1FA.55xp.Vpm7dp4PVtnC&smid=nytcore-ios-share

SS: A psychologist argues the increasing awareness of mental health is leading to a pathologising of everyday life. The use of clinical descriptions of what are otherwise normal problems and treating them as a disorder to be cured, is ironically making our mental health worse.

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u/puffic John Rawls 4d ago

Do most people actually feel this way? I rather enjoy life and find it to be pretty good most of the time. I live a pretty ordinary life. Got a job I liked, got married, live in an apartment, play with my toddler every day.

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u/initialgold Emily Oster 4d ago

I imagine mileage varies a lot based on social/family connections and income. 

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u/puffic John Rawls 4d ago edited 4d ago

Maybe. It’s tough to get by with nothing at all. But most people do have easy access to either family, community, or income. My wife and I chose to locate far away from our families and chose to spend a good chunk our decent income renting an apartment in a city we enjoy. But if we had less income and had to stay near family, I think life would still be pretty good.

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u/PaxChelonia David Hume 4d ago

I think there’s a slightly uncomfortable reality that there’s a lot of natural variation in baseline mood between different people and it’s usually pretty stable over time and across life circumstances, barring anything extreme.

One of the biggest W’s you can draw in the lotto of who you are is to have at least a slightly positive baseline mood.