World Mental Health Day: Rethinking the Labels
Today is 34th World Mental Health Day. According to the WHO, over 1 billion people worldwide are living with mental health disorders. A study by Harvard Medical School found that 1 in 2 people in the world will experience a mental health disorder in their lifetime, with women being the most affected. That is half of the world’s population (Harvard Medical School). In Australia, 1 in 5 Australians aged 16-85 experienced a mental disorder, 17% of Australians experienced an anxiety disorder, and 1 in 7 children and adolescents aged 4-17 years old experienced a mental illness (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, May 2025). On this day, I want to use this space to talk about the four labels that we sometimes unknowingly place on each other - Normal, Successful, Unsuccessful, and Mentally Ill.
Being “normal”
The first writer I ever admired was Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist. Long before becoming a world-famous writer and teaching millions, including me, how to trust their dreams, Coelho was admitted to mental hospitals by his parents. And escaped three times before the age of 20. To me, his life is a perfect example of how society often misunderstands “normal” and, therefore, I cannot find someone better to define this label. As he writes:
“If you are capable of getting in to work at 9.00 a.m. and staying until 5.00 p.m., then society does not consider you incapacitated. It doesn’t matter if, from 5.01 p.m. until 8.59 a.m. you sit in a catatonic state in front of the television, indulge in the most perverted sexual fantasies on the Internet, stare at the wall, blaming the world for everything and feeling generally put upon, feel afraid to go out into the street, are obsessed with cleanliness or a lack of cleanliness, suffer from bouts of depression and compulsive crying. As long as you can turn up for work and do your bit for society, you don’t represent a threat. You’re only a threat when the cup finally overflows and you go out into the street with a machine gun in your hand, like a character in a child’s cartoon, and kill fifteen children in order to alert the world to the pernicious effects of Tom and Jerry. Until you do that, you are deemed to be normal”. - Paulo Coelho, 2022
Being “successful”
If you achieve fame, money and all other luxuries like celebrities, but sink into drugs and depression, you are deemed to be labelled as successful.
If you build big businesses, but suffer from anxiety and chronic stress, you are deemed to be labelled as successful.
If you win titles and awards and make million dollars, but get divorced and lose your family in the process, you are deemed to be labelled as successful.
If you own multiple houses, but never feel at home anywhere, you are deemed to be labelled as successful
If you have thousands of followers and hundreds of friends, but no one to sit with you in your silence, you are deemed to be labelled as successful.
Being “unsuccessful”
If you leave a high paying job that brings constant stress and exhaustion, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you chose a career that aligns with your passion, instead of being a doctor, engineer or a lawyer, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you don’t get married by a certain age, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you decide not to have babies, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you devote your entire life to your career and choose not to have a family life, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you devote your entire life to your family and not have a big career, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you balance family and career and forget about self-care and beauty, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful
If you prioritise self-care above everything, you are deemed to be labelled as unsuccessful (and selfish)
Being “mentally ill”
If you question a religion that tell fear is the foundation of faith and define God in your own terms, you are deemed to be labelled as mentally ill
If you question rules that were written when survival meant hunting for food and finding mates, you are deemed to be labelled as mentally ill
If you question the politics and the political agendas, you are deemed to be labelled as mentally ill
If you challenge the ego of the powerful, you are deemed to be labelled as mentally ill
If you say humans are not superior to nature, but rather live in debt to it, you are deemed to be labelled as mentally ill.
In my labelling system, I’d reverse the order of explanation.
I will end this conversation by quoting back to Paulo Coelho.
“Some people seem to be happy: they just do not think about it. Others make plans: “I’m going to have a husband, a home, two children, and a house in the country”. While this keeps them occupied, they are like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they don’t think, they just keep moving forward. They manage to get their car – sometimes even a Ferrari – and they think that the meaning of life lies there, so they never ask the question. Yet, despite all that, their eyes betray a sadness that they themselves are quite unaware of.
I don’t know if everyone is unhappy. I do know that people are always busy: working overtime, looking after the kids, the husband, the career, the university degree, what to do tomorrow, what they need to buy, whatever it is they need to have in order not to feel inferior, and so on.
Few people have ever told me: “I’m unhappy”. Most say: “I’m fine, I’ve managed to get all I ever wanted”.
So then I ask: “What makes you happy?”
They answer: “I have everything that a person can dream of – a family, a home, work, good health”.
I insist: “So the meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?”
They answer: there is no answer. They change the subject.”
On this World Mental Health Day, let’s pause for a second and ask that one question to ourselves and our loved ones - Are you really happy? If not, what makes you really happy?
