We are a society where suffering remains a closed stigma, we take medications for the pain of hidden life, we treat our high cholesterol and our low mood wondering how our mood is, as if depression were that, a simple cold or an infection. cure with antibiotics.
Primary health professionals, who don’t know how to deal with it, say seeing dozens of people every day with clear indicators of depression or anxiety disorder, it’s like society is a student expanding as they enter a dark room. where darkness paralyzes immediately.
“The birds of sadness can fly over our heads, but they can’t nest in our hair. “Chinese proverb?
Suffering sticks to the body and mind, hurts the back, bones, soul, burns the stomach and squeezes the chest, the sheets trap us in its warm refuge, like the tentacles of an octopus inviting us to stay there, away from the world, from light, conversations and the sound of life.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) warns, in the next 20 years depression will be the main health problem for the Western population, and to deal with this impact, we not only need well-trained measures, tools or professionals; we also need awareness and sensitivity.
It should be remembered that none of us are immune to suffering, at some point, from a psychological disorder. We cannot trivialize suffering; it is positive to understand it, to know how to deal with it and, above all, to prevent diseases such as depression.
Marcos is 49 years old and nursing assistant. Two days ago he was diagnosed with an anxious depressive state, before making an appointment with the specialist he already felt the shadow of depression, perhaps because he recognized the symptoms as memories of his childhood, when his mother was going through terrible times when he was unwell. The mood and isolation in his room were present. A period that marked much of his childhood.
Now it’s him, and although he was suggested to apply for a license, Mark refuses to do so, he’s afraid to talk to his peers (doctors and nurses) about what’s happening to him, because he’s embarrassed, because for him depression is like a personal failure, an inherited weakness, in fact, besides your mother’s memory only obsessive thoughts come to mind , repetitive and persistent, a woman who has never been to the doctor and who has spent much of her life trapped in an astonishing emotional cycle of ups and downs.
Marcos, yes, went to the psychiatrist, and thought he was doing things right, because medications will help him because it’s one more disease to treat, as well as his high blood pressure, cholesterol or hypothyroidism, however, our protagonist is wrong, because adult painkillers help, but they’re not enough; because depression, like many other psychological disorders, needs three additional elements: psychotherapy, life project and social support.
We are used to hearing that suffering is part of life, that sometimes a painful experience helps us to be stronger, to invest in our personal growth, however, we forget that there is another kind of suffering that affects us for no apparent reason, without triggering, like a cold wind that lowers our minds, our desire to do things and our energy.
“To swallow one’s own suffering is to risk being devoured from within. -Frida Kahlo-
Existential suffering is the great virus of the human being today, it is not seen, it is not touched, but it is doing havoc, over time a diagnostic manual will give a name to what affects us and we will become another label, to the point that many health professionals are lost in the excesses of the scientific model , forget that each depressive patient is unique, with its own clinical characteristics, with its own history, and that sometimes the same strategy is not for everyone.
On the other hand, another problem we face when dealing with depression is that in many countries there is still no proper protocol, it is usually general doctors who diagnose you and treat you with medication, only if the patient does not improve is him or her All this proves once again that mental health problems are not sufficiently recognized , even if the evidence is clear: 1 in 6 people will suffer depression at some point in their lives.
Thus, the often poor approach of the medical system to this type of disease adds to the social stigma mentioned above. In fact, there is a curious fact that is explained in an article in the journal “Psychology Today” and that invites us, without a doubt, to a deep reflection.
If we explain to the population of a certain city that depression is due?Exclusively to neurobiological causes, there is greater acceptance. In addition, will visits to psychologists and psychiatrists increase, because people will no longer assume the “alleged” lack?of strength to have been affected by discouragement and suffering.
Unfortunately, as we can see, we remain stuck in knowledge, where certain diseases remain synonymous with madness, weakness or a defect to hide, it is time to normalize, understand and, above all, think about these other diseases that do not need plaster, stitches or serum every 6 hours.
We must stop devaluing suffering and begin to learn from it, to be active agents and above all close.
Image credits: Samy Charnine