The point is not pretending to be functional for the sake of it, putting on a facade and calling everything great. It's that being functional often works to help in and of itself.
Getting out of the house, socialising, exercising and working towards your own goals in life, cutting down on booze and drugs, getting proper sleep etc, can and does have an effect and can alleviate the problem. It's not a mask, it's a remedy in many minor cases. Compared to medicalising minor bouts of depression or anxiety (which may well really just be part of the human experience), calling them a 'condition', which may render people more helpless and encourage wallowing in it which is likely to make things worse. Sometimes picking yourself up and getting on with it is what you actually need.
If that doesn't work for you, seek help, sure, nobody's saying you shouldn't.
I agree generally, it's just that this isn't a cure all solution and it's also quite deceiving. Meaning, someone doing well does not mean they are actually doing well. People who are very successful and loved people kill themselves often. Had we asked them if they needed help, they might not have died.
Undoubtedly, the facade of good mental health is a strategy to be successful in a patriarchal capitalist society. That makes it tricky.
The point is not pretending to be functional for the sake of it, putting on a facade and calling everything great. It's that being functional often works to help in and of itself.
Getting out of the house, socialising, exercising and working towards your own goals in life, cutting down on booze and drugs, getting proper sleep etc, can and does have an effect and can alleviate the problem. It's not a mask, it's a remedy in many minor cases. Compared to medicalising minor bouts of depression or anxiety (which may well really just be part of the human experience), calling them a 'condition', which may render people more helpless and encourage wallowing in it which is likely to make things worse. Sometimes picking yourself up and getting on with it is what you actually need.
If that doesn't work for you, seek help, sure, nobody's saying you shouldn't.