Coming from a third world, or to be politically correct, a 'developing country' definitely has its benefits. The biggest one : being oblivious to 'mental problems'. I was thinking about this topic for a while, and I have no idea, how to be as politically correct as possible on this critical matter. So please forgive me if I offend someone with this...and keep in mind...if you feel like you need to slap me or punch me in the face, let's all agree to disagree.
As you are probably aware from my previous blogs, I am Albanian ( I will leave out the "and proud of it" part because you have probably guessed as much by now)
In Albania, land of the former-communists, recent democrats, great minds, and loving people, we are not that familiar with bipolarity, psycho-somatic disorders, attention-deficit disorder you name it...we call all these illnesses by one name, and for propriety's sake, I am not going to name that name. I only found out about all of these stresses on a human's mind when I arrived in the United States and was confronted with it. I still remember the day when I was sitting in the cafeteria and one of my friends very openly admitted to me that she was bipolar. Being ignorant of the word and its meanings at the time, I had to run to my best source of information : my sister (she has now been replaced by Wikipedia).
I was informed about bipolarity and its effects on the human mind. I was soon to discover everything else that followed or preceded it. Scientists in the United States had come up with all these fancy names for these problems. What intrigued and saddened me at the same time were not the names of the diseases, but the medications associated with them.
Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that pills don't work or that they should not be taken when diagnosed with certain conditions, all I am saying is let's not pop depression pills every time there is nothing good on T.V.
Let me explain further: Never before in Albania had I referred to myself as "depressed". After coming to the United States, I would call myself depressed every chance I got. My friends stood me up in the theater- I was depressed; the printer did not work - I was depressed; I got a B+ in Poli Sci - I was depressed.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't really think I was depressed, its just that the word became such a common word in my day to day vocabulary.
That's when I realized how happy we are in Albania!!!!! Truly, we are. We are potentially one of the poorest countries of Eastern Europe, highest corruption index (second only to Haiti), greatest brain-drain of all emerging countries, and yet, we are happy! We have a ton of things to worry about, sure we do.
God know's if there's anyone that should be depressed, its us, but somehow, we have found a way to dodge depression and melancholy.
I don't think pill-popping is the best way to go about pessimism/depression/what have you. Instead, take a look around, make a list of all the miracles in your life, switch on the daily news for some perspective, and give praise to God for all the marvelous things He has graciously given you.
Another thing that helps me when I am down and 'depressed' is inherited from my padre- the Greek. Let me give you a very mind-boggling statistic which I just made up: Greeks spends 2 Millions Euro per night on plate-smashing! Well, don't quote me on the number, but seriously one of the most important parts of going to a Greek nightclub has to do with the following:
1) Wearing a skimpy skirt/dress which allows you to dance on top of the table
2) Ordering 300 USD worth of ouzo
4) Asking for 50 plates (the more the better)
5) Getting on the dance floor or on top of the table (based on your preference)
6) Smashing every single plate as hard as you can on the floor!!!!!
Let me get back to my point above.....plate-smashing is very cathartic in its nature. If you don't believe, please, go to your kitchen, choose a plate your mom can live without, go to the second floor of your appt and smash the HECK out of that plate.
If you don't feel better instantaneously you can send me a hate email at blerinadhimo@gmail.com
I am hoping I made my point. Pills don't work.
So please, next time you feel sad and down, put on CNN, go through your family album, and if all that hasn't worked , head straight for the kitchen. No, not the knives drawer....the PLATES!
1 comment:
So, it seems to me that you are suggesting that we have all deluded ourselves into thinking we have mental problems. But being delusional is a mental problem in and of itself so we ARE actually suffering from a mental problem.
Seriously though, I found this post kind of offensive. I agree with you that Americans are probably over reliant on pills and psychotherapy, but that does not mean that some people are actually suffering and need these tools to cope. My guess would be that there are some people in Albania who are seriously suffering with no means to cope because they don't have access to these tools or because use of such tools is stigmatized. Some people in America don't have these tools as well- we call them 2/3 of the homeless population.
Anyway, I am not trying to start an argument, just a conversation.
Ken
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