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Continuing the theme of how I answered a level 3 Certificate in Mental Health at Work and Mental Health Advocacy. I passed, and I had the most fun testing the course material in its negative form; in Social Science this is called the null hypothesis. The intent is to prove the positive hypothesis. This particular subject is somewhat nebulous and the tutor remarked that she had to revise her own understanding of mental ill-health. The paragraph headings are the declarative statements in the course material. The rest are my answers.

Next will be: What is meant by the mental health continuum?

What can be a factor in mental ill-health?

Any condition that disrupts an individual's everyday life.

What can we make of this? A 'condition' can be a physical aspect of someone's life; it can be a necessity to work when everyday life includes survival; or weekends spent with one's family; or variants that might exist between these not unexpected scenarios. A condition of life might well be making long journeys to procure resources that are required for survival. How about a well is built close to the settlement, conurbation, or hut, or a change in the local climate that provides new opportunities for provision of individual and societal welfare? That would significantly disrupt the condition of the thirsty person who walks long distances for water.

Can we say that a condition of retirement from work must bring about a diminishment of mental health because everyday life for that person no longer consists of a work condition that exacerbates an existing health condition?

We might need to understand the difference between a disruption and an innovation to provide a coherent view on whether any condition that disrupts an individual's everyday life should be a factor that necessarily diminishes someone's mental stasis. A ‘Black Swan’ event is a disruption. A pandemic is a ‘Black Swan’ event. Consider this: All swans are white. This is an inherent belief because we keep seeing white swans - until we see a black swan swimming on the lake. Nobody expects to see a black swan. In this case, seeing a black swan permanently changes our belief that only white swans exist.

A disruption can be permanent when it presents itself in the form of an amputation of a limb. A disruption can also be a temporary change to what is locally considered to be normal, such as a electric power-cut. The invention of motorised vehicles is a disruption to the horse-trading industry and businesses associated with horses, such as saddlery and blacksmithing. An innovation is usually considered to be an improvement. Production of cars on a production line is innovative to cars being hand-built one at a time.

Kodak used to be the largest camera producer. They failed to see the innovation of digital photography as an improvement to how taking and storing photographs can be accomplished. For them, the outbreak of the discovery of digital cameras was a Black Swan event – a disruption. To the home photographer and industries using photographs it was a tremendous improvement – an innovation. Adding a camera to a mobile phone was an innovation. Both mobile phones and digital photography are innovations with mobile phones being a disruption to the home phone industries. People then wanted to take better pictures with their mobile phones.

The key point here is, that there is an intent by modern businesses to create a desire for an innovation that is not necessarily a positive direction for aspiration to travel in; it is merely a desire that might be temporally assuaged. In other words individuals have a condition in which they are delighted by an innovation and then want something better. This makes some innovations be be only disruptions, permanent disruptions – Delight rises and plateaus into acceptance which falls into disappointment – cognitive dissonance.

Artificial intelligence now provides solutions to the disappointment that the once highly valued ‘selfie’ is not good enough – it still has that ‘Best Friend Forever’ person in the photo, when we have now fallen out’. AI can crop the photo of its despised elements.

If a change is permanent it is a finalisation of a prior condition, spiritually, physically, or mentally.

We might ask whether someone in the 1950s would be as disrupted in their normal societal, work, and environmental scope of existence in our world of the 2020s, as would someone from the 2020s be disrupted when they are to live in the 1950s. Ultimately, the question is: with modern experience and shaped perception would we be happier in a different environment? If this might be possible then measurements can be made; then we can begin to measure mental ill-health by, how accessible is information about our environment and what comparison might we make to an alternative environment.

How happy are we now, compared to how happy would we be if we had married our first love? Would a change in partners necessarily be a disruption that would make someone unhappy. Of course, the rejected person might feel diminished in their societal acceptance. Now, we must ask whether mental wellness can be considered to be evident when someone is happy despite their societal position, if they even care about it or the environmental conditions they live in.

On this, finally, a change of conditions may bring about a perceived improvement, and for others on the other end of the scale that has just re-balanced, disaster, or ill-health.

We cannot safely state that a change of circumstances is a good guide to understanding mental health or ill-health.