Danilo Toninelli: “I study mental health; the politics I used to love no longer exist”

The rhetoric of ‘Plan B’ glorifies the reformed executive who works as a barman in the Caribbean. It praises those who leave the city behind to wander about on a boat with their family (though if they opt for the woods, they’ll be in trouble). It struggles, however, to understand a man who was involved in high-level politics – serving as a minister and leader of the M5S group in the Senate – before leaving it to devote himself to inner wellbeing: because Danilo Toninelli is convinced that ‘the issue of mental health is the most important’ and, to promote it, he founded the platform BastaPensieri.it with a number of specialists. This choice does not remove him from current affairs: in recent days, via his Instagram profile, he advised Sigfrido Ranucci to admit his mistakes (“because those who have made mistakes are not bad people themselves”), highlighted a bureaucratic absurdity regarding the registration of electric scooters, and called for the ‘powerful’ to have their official cars taken away so that they might understand what high fuel prices mean.

Not at all. One cannot fully grasp the emotional impact of filling up with petrol until the cost is felt in one's wallet. This applies even to the affluent, who are often frugal.

I had an extraordinary experience in the Five Star Movement, but that model of community no longer exists. We believed that politics done well was the greatest act of collective generosity, but one must have an open heart and not an inflated ego. Now everything is based on one’s public image; everything is communication and propaganda. Those who make mistakes lack the courage to admit it but counter-attack by saying ‘you’re worse than me’. It’s a clash of fan bases. As I’m not a fan, I don’t go to the stadium.

No one represents me, either personally or politically.

I shall always remain faithful to the two-term limit we imposed on ourselves, and not even if they were to shower me with gold would I stand for re-election. Should any genuine project emerge, driven by young people, I may lend a hand – but free of charge, from the outside. After all, politics can also be practised in everyday life by working on personal growth. Simply inspiring those around you is already an extraordinary revolution.

I must have been twenty-five years old. Whilst others were reading novels, I was devouring books on psychology and neuroscience. I had a fairly broad theoretical understanding, but it was only about three years ago, through therapy, that I gained an emotional awareness – not just a cognitive one. This led to the creation of the BastaPensieri project.

I had not spoken about it publicly partly because it takes courage to express one’s vulnerabilities. There is a cultural expectation that you must always be perfect: whilst younger people and women discuss mental health quite naturally, adult men tend to be closed off when it comes to their emotions. When things start to go wrong, they either fall into depression or seek distractions that only make the situation worse. They do not seek an inner journey, and this is serious because we live in an age of anguish, which is worse than anxiety. Anxiety makes you fight; anguish suggests that you cannot cope.

Multiple factors have disconnected us from ourselves, and an ever-increasing workload in limited time means we think less and less. We delude ourselves into thinking that digital relationships can replace real ones, and above all, we have lost our connection with nature: our brains are still those of people who evolved whilst walking, yet we sit all day at a desk or on a sofa. Especially in the West, we think too little and do too much.

The first step is to avoid shying away from emotions or reacting on autopilot; instead, listen to your inner self. Then seek assistance from qualified professionals, as it is challenging to heal wounds dating back to childhood or break free from ingrained patterns alone. Finally, practise meditation alongside therapy: therapy helps individuals understand their emotions, while meditation helps them feel them. Close your eyes and follow your breath.

In short, it is the ability to be present in the here and now, without succumbing to fear of the future or the repetition of traumas. Paradoxically, people prefer to wallow in a pain to which the mind is accustomed rather than trying to heal from it and face an unknown happiness. Mind-body integration is central: they are one and the same, and we must work on this with a clinical, scientific approach. Emotions must, so to speak, be ‘literate’.

Although it could not be stated in writing, the Genoa Decree encapsulated the emotion and sensitivity of the moment. The primary concern was assisting the city’s inhabitants and the families of those who perished in the Morandi Bridge collapse, as well as holding accountable those responsible for the tragedy.

He is someone who does not belong, so to speak, to the Movement. If we believed something was right, we would do it without worrying about consensus. I am increasingly convinced that those who help others derive extraordinary emotional fulfilment from it, and that this relationship helps people to grow. When a blanket of indifference covers the collective conscience, the result is more wars and more atrocities.

Not to succumb to conformism. I once asked Gianroberto Casaleggio whether all the attacks he received didn’t hurt him: he replied that it did upset him, but he tried to soar higher so as not to hear the clamour. I haven’t forgotten that.