Simon Says...Stay Positive

As America’s mental health becomes more and more reliant on the individual to improve her/his psychological well-being, most items on its list crossover ever more commercially with self-help. There are gurus who will offer different, developing theories and formulas to help us find a “Growth Mindset” with gratitude, journaling, and positivity. There are books, websites, and apps, all with a price tag that will help you “achieve” something that supports your “mental health”.

The patient, treated more like a customer, is quickly surrounded by a word salad of admirable goals, always under damaging mental pressure to reach some catchily-named higher purpose. ‘Mental health resources’ are a jungle in which a person can quickly get lost, and that’s even if you’re able-bodied. Add a neurodegenerative movement disorder into the mix, and finding the answer to life’s big questions becomes even more daunting.

Parkinson’s Disease is a club that nobody joins voluntarily, and it’s not exactly conducive to inner peace. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It hounds us, gnaws at us, and constantly reminds us in mind and body that we have drawn a really bad card in the game of life. And there’s plenty of time to ask ourselves, why me?

So, how does a PWP not flunk out on every “wellness” and “growth mindset” test?

The answer is to take a different road. One that is less travelled and more, shall we say, existential. Practice “Tragic Optimism”.

The concept of “Tragic Optimism” was framed by Viktor Frankl, an Auschwitz survivor and revered psychologist who wrote a famous, still widely read book called “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Tragic Optimism asks us to say “Yes” to finding meaning in life despite the inevitability of pain and suffering, guilt, because of our life decisions, and the fact that life is short and transient.

The essence and texture of Meaning come in the form of love, and living life to the fullest possible, whether it’s in our work or what we do for others. The search for meaning helps us avoid existential despair and nihilism, which can hit PWP hard, especially if they are prone to depression, a common non-motor symptom of PD. In short, accepting that life is inherently tragic and that we still have the duty to ourselves and our loved ones to find meaning in it by rising above its pain and suffering.

Most other self-help strategies do not center on an acceptance of life’s unavoidable tragedies. Tragic Optimism challenges people to find meaning despite the dark clouds, not just avoid them. It takes a realistic assessment of every person’s predicament and asks a simple question of those who grapple with its existentialism.

Are you going to get busy living?

There are countless ways to find meaning, from writing poetry to just being more present in the lives of your family members. From meditating to challenging yourself and your PD by climbing a mountain. As one illustrious mountaineering member of the PCLA support group so gracefully puts it, “I’m not dead yet”.