In what might appear to be a relatively insignificant scene in the 2019 Academy Award-winning movie Joker, Arthur Fleck, the protagonist and the eponymous character, talks to a social worker from the public health department about his mental health issues.
It is fairly obvious that Fleck is suffering from depression and the fact that he is struggling to make ends meet with a miserable job and is constantly ill-treated by everyone doesn’t make his life any better. After telling Arthur that this will be his last therapy session since the department will be closing down its offices due to a fund cut, the social worker in a moment of rare candour, without so much as twitching a muscle in her face, says, “They don’t give a sh*t about people like you, Arthur and they really don’t give a sh*t about people like me, either”.
This dialogue encapsulates almost everything that’s wrong with the way we treat depression. Perhaps no other disease is so ubiquitously belittled and so often met with such cavalier attitudes. While most common diagnoses include over-thinking and over-reacting, an equally disturbing popular myth is that depression is a “rich man’s disease”; a consequence of having too much money and spare time to waste on psychiatrists who are nothing but quacks and charlatans out to fleece money from unsuspecting patrons.
‘Apparently, the poor are too busy earning their livelihood and do not have the luxury to worry about something as trivial as mental health’. Not only does such a proposition reek of callousness, but it turns a blind eye to the facts and reality. Depression, or for that matter any mental illness, is not a phase that will pass on its own with time or a state of mind such as boredom which can be cured by simply having fun. It is a disease that needs proper medical treatment and attention.
Also read: What Should Schools Teach Students About Depression and Mental Health?
And like any other disease, it affects people irrespective of their status in the class hierarchy. From the poor man drowning his sorrow in a seedy tavern to the worker unburdening himself or herself of his or her grief to a fellow co-worker at the local teashop or the labourer unable to sleep at night on the pavement as he or she stares at the stars in the sky, crying out for help in the losing battle with their inner demons – depression affects the underprivileged as much as the affluent. In fact, a study has revealed that people living in poverty are twice as likely to be depressed than those who are financially able. The truth is that the writing has always been on the wall; it is we who either knowingly or unknowingly, look the other way.
Harsh as it may sound, many victims of depression who are downtrodden might not be aware of their illness and those who do, might be reluctant to seek medical assistance. Not only does this speak volumes about our failure when it comes to spreading awareness about mental health issues with the same fervour as the physical ailments, but it also highlights the need to provide free or affordable healthcare to those who need it the most. The step-motherly treatment which mental healthcare receives is evident from reports of the Union ministry of health and family which reveal that in India there is just one psychiatrist to cater to the needs of over two lakh people.
The World Health Organisation defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Article 47 of the constitution of India makes it the duty of the state to improve health and raise the living standards of its citizens. Even the Supreme Court has held that since the right to health is an integral part of the right to life to which every person is entitled, it is the constitutional obligation of the government to provide health facilities. However, bureaucratic apathy and lack of funding have ensured that all these provisions remain mere paper tigers.
And if someone is still bent on trivialising mental health and dismissing psychiatry as mumbo-jumbo, then he or she must watch the Joker till the end. We realise that not just Arthur, but his mother was also a victim of a mental disease that was left untreated, arguably because of her poverty. As a result, she along with her boyfriend had physically abused Arthur when he was a child, an incident that caused him a head injury and most likely is responsible for his sudden, uncontrollable, and inappropriate bouts of laughter.
This proves to the be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back for Arthur who kills his mother and descends irretrievably into insanity leaving behind a trail of carnage and mindless violence wherever he goes. The transformation of Arthur into the Joker thus completes.
One cannot help but wonder if all this could have been prevented if some people had realised that no matter how poor the person suffering from it is, a mental illness should never be treated as a joke.
Shukr Usgaokar is a final year law student. A bit naïve, he still believes that words and ideas can change the world.
Featured image credit: Chitto Cancio/Unsplash