Hemmed In, Going Crazy

There are many reasons why people slip into mental decline. Sometimes the reasons are to do with the physical and mental make-up of the individual. And sometimes people are labelled mentally ill by empire building professionals.  
That said, there is undoubtedly a growth of mental distress these days, and this has something to do with the nature of the society we live in.
If the basis of mental health is love and freedom, we don't stand a chance.
It is difficult to find love in a world of exchange, of professionalized care, where the gift of giving freely is marginalized.
And freedom is possibly the most abused word in the language. We are told that we are 'free', while 'our' enemies are not. But we are a people who are supervised from the cradle to the grave.
From an early age children are hemmed in. Few children are free to play out, or even free  to walk to school on their own, which was the norm not so many years ago.
Motor cars, and the danger they present to our little ones, are the chief weapons for enforcing the childhood curfew. Free play has been replaced by organized, supervised play, which is often no play at all.
The children lose all sense of independence, either in thought or deed. They are taught to constantly refer to authority figures.
This passivity continues into adult life. Even our entertainments are passive and inwards - drugs, drink, television.
We learn to consume. We work so we can earn money, to help us gain more experiences, more thrills, more fodder for the sacred 'I'.
But in reality, many of us live lives of quiet despair, alone on a rung on the ladder, in competition with all others, relations with our fellows supervised by Authority.
Associations for mutual help, which spring up spontaneously in a free society, are closed down by Authority, and the meaning of friendship, and even love, is lost, till a 'friend' is little more than someone whose company amuses you.
So we fall back in despair, alone, with no structures of social solidarity, no friendship, no love, unable to take the initiative that was knocked out of us long ago, too selfish to breed, too lazy to think.