Mental capital
When I was studying sociology, I learned “the forms of capital” proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron, that being rich only doesn’t sufficiently determine if one is advantageous in the society, because there are also cultural capital (knowledge, skills and tastes) and social capital (have connections and relationships with certain people which can bring higher social status). After more than a decade of graduation, I am here to introduce an idea of “mental capital”.
Mental health has been increasingly important, so that the issue can be inevitable for everyone including those who look like having a lot of money and social connections as shown on their LinkedIn and Instagram. Indeed, almost everyone needs help from various ways from YouTube videos to psychological therapy.
Mental capital will be a very complicated concept because no one in the world is totally happy without any sadness, anxiety and depression throughout their life. Everyone has to learn to become resilient, interdependent, try to not compare to and even harm others (even through gossiping)…..
When sociology loves to intercorrelate economic, cultural and social capital, I would say mental capital may not be so directly related to these forms of capital. You can say one with so many social connections and economic assets is easier to find social support and therapy, but resource is one thing and whether it’s effective is the key question.
There are a lot of celebrities and people we consider as having bright futures who ended up committing suicide eventually, while others without social support and access to psychological help can learn from their experiences to become more resilient and happier.
I sometimes question how we can have more “mental capital”. In the United Kingdom besides the services for treating mental illness and those who intend to commit suicide, we also have talking therapies, but there is always a high demand so a large number of people ended up completing online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) course instead of talking to someone who can listen to them; or had to wait for months for the talking sessions. Insufficient supply of therapy services is where so-called “self help” emerges from books in the bookstores and libraries to free online resources like YouTube. Some are written by psychologists which are helpful to some extents, while it is questionable whether other resources (which claim to be bringing various scientific and superstitious ideas together) are truly helping people, or just drawing attention to make audiences feel they have been empowered.
There is no point that science shouldn’t be considered when it is never perfect and has shortcomings. At least we know having good sleep, some amount of exercises like running, doing things we love, travelling, walking in the bush, not pushing ourselves too much… you name it, can improve our mental health. However these notions are too common, or boring to share on social media which can never be loved by algorithms, and with these findings we still have to figure out ourselves how to make it work since everyone’s demands are different. Sadly most of us are impatient so that we need immediate insightful answers all the time, resulting in endless up-and-down loops that we are happy with at first and frustrated later.
Of course I am not a sociologist so I can’t justify the idea of mental capital, but I will regard it as a reminder for me to not care too much about money and productivity, which are very important but only the SECOND most important, as mental health is always my top priority. Without it, you can’t have money and productivity.
