Is Society Sick?
Depression is at an all-time high.
According to Recent studies which indicate that approximately 7.5% of the UK population experiences probable depressive disorder. This means that roughly one in thirteen people in the UK may be struggling with depression. While mild depressive symptoms are more common than severe ones, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted mental health, leading to a notable increase in moderate to severe depressive symptoms. During certain periods of the pandemic, the rate of moderate to severe depressive symptoms rose to as high as 21%. This suggests that the pandemic exacerbated existing mental health challenges and created new ones for many individuals.
Interestingly, middle adulthood (ages 45-59) appears to be the age group most affected by depression. While the reasons for this are complex and require further investigation, it highlights the importance of addressing mental health needs across all age groups, particularly during periods of significant societal upheaval.
I am going to give solution a very simplistic solution and that is the dire need for laughter in our society from local to regional from nonstop streaming news channels to give additional stories of hope and laughter to more opportunities for stand-up comedians.
Currently in Birmingham UK there are only a handful of comedy clubs, I can only name two: Jonglers and the Glee Club, many people may have never heard of comedy clubs and to put things in perspective Birmingham currently has a 2024 population of 2,684.810 with only at most 12 venues, many of which are linked to local pubs and clubs however at best we have 12 venues meeting society’s laughter needs, the need for comedy, comedy clubs, laughter lounges is at an all-time high.
Allah-hu-Akbar…..
Even our therapeutic approaches need a reshuffle most therapies are based on a standardised non multi-cultural model with nearly all therapies being disease and symptoms focused. laughter doesn’t even register!
Even our trusty rusty old GP network is as guilty as the rest. All doom gloom and sick notes.
So how do we change society? How do we learn to support mild depression, the non medical kind. How do we facilitate this change? The solution is to simple to take serious but we need to regain our ability to laugh. I don’t mean the odd snigger, nope. I mean a very deep, deep, belly laugh, where your stomach churns and your about to pee your pants. I also advise you to get uncomfortable listen to other types of comedy, not just slapstick watch, romantic rom coms, even branch out to taboo subjects and if you can’t, then laugh for no fucking reason….shove a pencil sideways across your lips, if you have to and force a smile…..I know life is crap so and so had cancer, so and so died. My mum went to meet St Peter, I still haven’t come to terms with her waltzing off too soon, she tore a hole in me, I cried and I cried, like a little 3 year old girl who lost her favourite toy, but I, you, we, all have to get over it…cancer, depression, death, taxes, high interest, chemical, nuclear, biological, on line scams, fraud, the list goes on and on. Oh I almost forgot…good old terrorism we have all this crap but I say great it’s not going anywhere, but how we choose to deal with these symptoms of a sickening society will make the difference to how you live your life….So you have a choice. Do nothing and be sad or start to change your perspective on things and learn to smile more, giggle more, smirk more take time for yourself t o laugh more. I want to be like my uncle who laughed at everything, he even laughed whilst having a heart attack and died doing what he loved most, driving his number 11 bus packed with school kids during rush hour screaming.
“Allah-hu- Akbar…..”
