Clarissa's Blog

People come up with all kinds of bizarre shit for their New Year’s resolutions. See this one, for instance:

So this year instead of having goals for my physical health, I’m going to make goals for my mental health. . .

1. Take my medication every day, no excuses

I take what sometimes seems like a lot of meds – prescription iron pills for my buzz-kill anemia, Zoloft for anxiety, a tiny dose of Seroquel as an adjunct mood booster and Imovane, the tiny blue angel that floats me off to dream country every night.

Consumer society at its best, seriously. Mental health equals popping pills. It would be great, of course, if one didn’t have to make the inhuman effort of putting them into one’s mouth. But that’s where the New Year’s resolutions come in. The great personal victory of the diligent consumer is to muster the strength and the presence of mind actually to swallow the pills. 

This is what consumers see as mental health care.