Dispositional Privilege

Some people suffer from conditions such as Depression, Anxiety and OCD. As I mentioned in a previous post, when it comes to mental health I am not so hot on labels. Be this as it may, I think it safe to say that people to whom such labels might be applied are prone to suffer. They often find it hard to navigate the ups and downs of life. Other people do not have these conditions, and they seem to find life easier. We might say these people have a 'sunny disposition'. 

I don't know the extent to which a sunny disposition is genetic, or the result of a nurturing environment. Probably both. It is indubitaby the case that people with a sunny disposition can suffer, as the result of bad things happening to them. They might be rich or poor. They might suffer calamities in their life. They might have incredibly bad luck. But nonetheless, there are people, I believe, who have a sunny disposition. These people find it easier to cope with the ups and downs of life (which happen to all humans) than do people to whom the aforementioned 'labels' might apply. 

I think we need a new piece of vocabulary to acknowledge the fact that people who have a sunny disposition are in possession of a sort of privilege that is not afforded to people who have Depression, Anxiety, OCD and the like. I propose the term 'Dispositional Privilege'. People who have Dispositional Privilege suffer in ways that all humans suffer, but their disposition equips them to cope with their suffering in more functional ways than others. 

An anology here might the the term 'White Privilege'. People who are White are privileged in ways that people who are Black are not. This does not mean that White people do not suffer. It also does not mean that an individual Black person might be privileged in ways that in individual White person is not, by dint of things such as education, income, etc. It just means that, all other things being equal, White people, in our society, are at an advantage compared with Black people. I think a similar thing is true of people who have Dispositional Privilege. All other things being equal, they are lucky enough to be able to go through life relatively unencumbered, compared with people who do not have Dispositional Privilege. 

Life is not easy. For anyone. But just as society has taken some steps to address White Privilege (not enough steps, sure), we might do something similar with Dispositional Privilege. I'm not sure exactly how. I'm just throwing ideas around. I'd be interested to hear thoughts about this.