“Why does modern society feel so difficult to live in?”

Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about that question.

When we talk about mental illness, we tend to focus on the individual.

Why are they anxious?
Why can’t they sleep?
Why are they depressed?
Why do relationships feel so difficult?

Of course, there are many factors involved—the way someone thinks, their personality, their experiences, and the characteristics they were born with.

But is that really the whole story?

I think we may need to take a closer look at something else:

the environment people are living in.

Modern society has become incredibly convenient.

We can connect with people anytime.
We can access information from anywhere in the world.
And every day, we can see lives that are completely different from our own.

But perhaps that convenience comes with another cost.

Maybe we’ve also lost some of the time when our minds are truly allowed to rest.

Open social media, and you see someone else’s happiness.

Someone else’s success.
Someone else’s relationship.
Someone else’s beauty.

And without even realizing it, you start comparing it to your own life.

“Am I really doing okay?”

A small question like that can build up, little by little, day after day.

And with smartphones, relationships can follow us all the way home.

They haven’t replied.
They’ve seen your message.
They’re posting on social media, but they haven’t reached out to you.

Each of these things may seem incredibly small.

But the human mind is exposed to these small emotional triggers over and over again.

Sometimes it isn’t one huge event that brings someone to their breaking point.

Sometimes it’s the accumulation of countless small pressures until, one day, you realize that your mind has quietly reached its limit.

I wonder if that is part of what makes modern society so difficult to live in.

And honestly, I feel uncomfortable when we simply dismiss someone’s suffering by saying,

“You’re struggling because you’re mentally weak.”

Human beings cannot completely separate themselves from the environments they live in.

So when we think about someone’s mental health, perhaps we shouldn’t only ask,

“What is wrong with this person?”

Maybe we should also ask,

“What kind of environment is this person living in right now?”

Of course, I don’t think we can blame everything on society.

Mental illness is complicated.

Biological factors, psychological factors, past experiences, relationships, and living environments can all interact in different ways.

So I’m not trying to give an answer yet.

Actually, I’m trying to ask a question.

Where does the difficulty of living in modern society begin to intersect with mental illness?

Is the human mind really designed to adapt to the world we have created?

Has a more convenient society actually made human beings happier?

And before we tell someone who is struggling to simply “try harder,” what should we be looking at first?

This isn’t a medical paper yet.

It’s simply a question I’m raising before beginning to examine the issue more seriously from a medical perspective.

As a doctor, but also simply as a human being,

I want to think about this a little more deeply.

Maybe instead of asking,

“Why are you too weak to handle this?”

we should first ask,

“What kind of world are you trying to survive in right now?”

Maybe that question deserves a place in psychiatry, too.

That’s what I’m thinking about today.

— LISA

Before This Becomes a Medical Paper: A Doctor’s Question

“Why does modern society feel so difficult to live in?”

Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about that question.

When we talk about mental illness, we tend to focus on the individual.

Why are they anxious?
Why can’t they sleep?
Why are they depressed?
Why do relationships feel so difficult?

Of course, there are many factors involved—the way someone thinks, their personality, their experiences, and the characteristics they were born with.

But is that really the whole story?

I think we may need to take a closer look at something else:

the environment people are living in.

Modern society has become incredibly convenient.

We can connect with people anytime.
We can access information from anywhere in the world.
And every day, we can see lives that are completely different from our own.

But perhaps that convenience comes with another cost.

Maybe we’ve also lost some of the time when our minds are truly allowed to rest.

Open social media, and you see someone else’s happiness.

Someone else’s success.
Someone else’s relationship.
Someone else’s beauty.

And without even realizing it, you start comparing it to your own life.

“Am I really doing okay?”

A small question like that can build up, little by little, day after day.

And with smartphones, relationships can follow us all the way home.

They haven’t replied.
They’ve seen your message.
They’re posting on social media, but they haven’t reached out to you.

Each of these things may seem incredibly small.

But the human mind is exposed to these small emotional triggers over and over again.

Sometimes it isn’t one huge event that brings someone to their breaking point.

Sometimes it’s the accumulation of countless small pressures until, one day, you realize that your mind has quietly reached its limit.

I wonder if that is part of what makes modern society so difficult to live in.

And honestly, I feel uncomfortable when we simply dismiss someone’s suffering by saying,

“You’re struggling because you’re mentally weak.”

Human beings cannot completely separate themselves from the environments they live in.

So when we think about someone’s mental health, perhaps we shouldn’t only ask,

“What is wrong with this person?”

Maybe we should also ask,

“What kind of environment is this person living in right now?”

Of course, I don’t think we can blame everything on society.

Mental illness is complicated.

Biological factors, psychological factors, past experiences, relationships, and living environments can all interact in different ways.

So I’m not trying to give an answer yet.

Actually, I’m trying to ask a question.

Where does the difficulty of living in modern society begin to intersect with mental illness?

Is the human mind really designed to adapt to the world we have created?

Has a more convenient society actually made human beings happier?

And before we tell someone who is struggling to simply “try harder,” what should we be looking at first?

This isn’t a medical paper yet.

It’s simply a question I’m raising before beginning to examine the issue more seriously from a medical perspective.

As a doctor, but also simply as a human being,

I want to think about this a little more deeply.

Maybe instead of asking,

“Why are you too weak to handle this?”

we should first ask,

“What kind of world are you trying to survive in right now?”

Maybe that question deserves a place in psychiatry, too.

That’s what I’m thinking about today.

土屋梨沙