Sande Ramage

More mental illness when there is income inequality

Psychologist Nigel Latta is fond of telling New Zealanders that adolescents are just not right in the head.  This makes them an obvious group ripe for fixing even though the society that they live in may be the major cause of their problems.

Improving the Transitions for Adolescents, an extensive report compiled by an eminent group of researchers after reviewing the relevant literature, advises lawmakers that their job is to ‘strike a balance between protecting young people from harm and allowing them enough freedom to learn from their mistakes’.  A balancing act most parents will already be familiar with.

Whilst there is no new earth shattering news to report, the group may be hoping that, at the very least, the government heeds the recommendation that interventions must be evidence based rather than as the result of advocacy from pressure groups.

Evidence though, can come in a variety of forms.  Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, argue that what they call our broken societies and economies result not from the problems of any particular individual or group, but from the growth of inequality.

Take mental health for instance, a significant focus for the Improving the Transition group.  The Spirit Level shows that a much higher percentage of the population suffer from mental illness in countries where there is income inequality and New Zealand is high on this list.

Income inequality, where there are huge gaps between rich and poor, is a difficult issue to face when we have swallowed whole the notion of the individual being largely responsible for determining their own destiny.  It is tantamount to saying that the way we have been structuring society is fundamentally flawed.

Entertaining this idea leads to an examination of what constitutes a reasonable life for everyone, not just those that can fend for themselves through difficult times.  It raises questions about the authenticity of scapegoating groups that we consider particularly troublesome instead of considering that we might all be part of the problem.  A politically risky undertaking for any government.

Instead, what normally happens is that the problems of a particular group are highlighted, in this case youth.  Taskforces are formed, research undertaken and reports produced in the hope that their problems can be solved outside of the driving issue of inequality.

Wilkinson and Pickett say, ‘The unstated hope is that people – particularly the poor – can carry on in the same circumstances, but will somehow no longer succumb to mental illness, teenage pregnancy, educational failure, obesity or drugs’. (p239)

Being not right in the head is often solved for teenagers as they age and their brains develop.  Being not right in the head as a society takes longer to fix.