The national day of empty platitudes is upon us once again: R U OK? Day. And it’s apparently important, because as the media keeps reminding us, mental health issues are at epidemic levels.
Interesting, then, that so very little has changed about how we manage people’s brains. Like, at all.
The year R U OK? Day launched in 2009, I was working in local government, recently divorced, and in such dire mental straits that I tried to rope-free bungee jump off a few balconies. So sad was I that when the customer service team brought around yellow cupcakes with logos on them, I thought, at least someone is trying something.
The problem is: seventeen years later, we’re still trying the same thing.
In this time period (ish – the surveys don’t line up exactly), the number of Australians living with a “mental disorder” (The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s phrasing) in a 12-month period did not decrease, as you might expect. Actually, it went up a little, from 20% to 22%. Which is weird, because we have had so many morning teas.
Obviously, not enough. So, here we go again. Which is ironic because of course, as the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.
Today, around the country, office kitchens, teachers’ lounges and boardrooms will again ring with the joyous celebration of people cured by someone’s direct questioning of their mental wellbeing. There’s no background briefing; no one is trained on steps to follow if someone says they’re anything other than OK. After all these years, the strategy is still to ask a difficult question and hope the answer doesn’t make anyone feel too bad.
Perhaps unrelated: a 2023 Monash University study found “no evidence” of reduced suicides or suicidal behaviour resulting from R U OK? Day. There has also been no correlating increase in mental health plans or psychiatric prescriptions.
R U OK? Day itself dances around these results. “You might be surprised to learn that many people underestimate the power of an R U OK? Conversation,” says its website, misunderstanding the word “underestimate”. Its impact stories describe an increase in how many people feel comfy asking someone if they’re ok (89%), and how many people responded that they are, in fact, ‘not ok’ (40%).
It does not seek to find out how those 40% of people are doing now.
R U OK? Day’s own research reveals “9 in 10 of those who were asked, ‘are you OK?’, report feeling grateful, cared about, and supported”, none of which are measurable mental health outcomes.
The website does have a button you can click to find “Everything you need to make it meaningful”, whatever that means. It sounds more promising than it is: rather than offering scripts, contact numbers or therapeutic products, the link takes you to a form. If you fill out your business details, you’ll get to download posters, videos and calendar planners, all of which are are presumably therapeutic treatments for mental illness on a planet other than ours.
