| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 09-Jan-02 05:41 AM
Well, let's not mince words and stay away from the truth much longer.
Let's confront the truth, use our sense of compassion, our sense of good judgment, our se sense of helping one another, and use the truth and truth alone to see whether SOME good will come out of [this] for all of us in various
Nepali communities in and out of Nepal.
After all, while abroad, we are all AWAY from our loved ones in Nepal and are
in relatively more foreign/hostile/hard-to-understand/alien surroundings that may
tax us physically, mentally and emotionally. Some of us are good at making
many friends, in seeking help, and maintaining a sunny, optimistic and energetic approach to life. Some wallow in their problems -- quietly and silently, letting
the problems take over themselves and in some cases their life . . .
Still, from facts that are slowly emerging from Boston, Kathmandu and so
on, these painful truths seem clear.
a) For whatever reasons, Sandesh Wagle -- may he rest in peace! -- was
struggling with -- overtly or covertly -- what can only be generally termed
as clinical depression.
b) He flung himself in front an oncoming train, thereby committing suicide.
It's sad, painful and heart-breaking, to be sure.
But what are we to make of it?
While I applaud some people's efforts here to use Sandesh's death as an
occasion to create some sort of Emergency Funds for the future and so on,
I am much MORE interested in using this rather sad occasion to highlight the
nature of
a) this quite common therefore nothing to be ashamed of
b) not all that understood (and easily ridiculed by some ignorant people)
c) but treatable (if one seeks help)
thing called depression.
According to one report: 17 million -- that's like more than than 2/3 of Nepal's
entire population!! -- people in the United States struggle with this illness each year. While 85 percent of those treated respond positively, two-thirds of all clinical depression sufferers do NOT seek treatment.
SOURCE:
http://depression.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pslgroup.com%2Fdg%2F78d2.htm
Also:
"Perhaps we should have a different name for the syndrome that drains the zest for living and replaces it with anguish, guilt, pessimism, irritability, and the inability to experience pleasure --a condition that saps the appetite for food as well as for life, blocks access to the sanctuary of sleep, depletes energy and the motivation to rally, and fills the mind with morbid thoughts, including the wish to be dead.
The term "depression" misleadingly suggests mere transient discouragement or sadness, rather than a pervasive and persisting state of pain and dysfunction. Not only does the patient suffer, but the impact reverberates through family, friends, and fellow workers as well.
Society suffers, too: Estimates of the direct and indirect costs of depression range up to $43 billion a year. And for many, even after recovery, impairments linger in their relationships with friends and family, recreational activities, sexual function, and overall satisfaction with life.
Depression is formally defined by the presence, for two weeks or more, of depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, excessive guilt, impaired concentration, fatigue and loss of energy, appetite and sleep changes, agitated or retarded motor behavior and suicidality. Depressions can begin at any age, and vary widely in their course, severity, and predominant symptoms. Occasionally self-limited, depression typically persists or recurs and requires treatment to restore a normal life to the sufferer.
SOURCE:
http://depression.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.med.harvard.edu%2Fpublications%2FOn_The_Brain%2FVolume5%2FNumber2%2FDepress.html
*********************
Setting up an Emergency Fund is fine and good, but let's hope that there will NOT
be another sad occasion like this to make use of it.
That is why, let Nepali communities abroad vigorously and openly PUBLICIZE the kind of mental health resources that are available in Boston, Cambridge and maybe within GBNC professionals and elsewhere, and encourage Nepalis to talk to their friends, to one another and seek help, help and help.
Two books that give an excellent treatment to the subject of depression are:
1) The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon
and
2) there's this short but well-written book by Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow, describing his own battle with depression -- I forgot the title of that book.
I leave you for now with this short review of "The Noonday Demon" (from amazon.com)
Sometimes, the legacy of depression includes a wisdom beyond one's years, a depth of passion unexperienced by those who haven't traveled to hell and back. Off the charts in its enlightening, comprehensive analysis of this pervasive yet misunderstood condition, The Noonday Demon forges a long, brambly path through the subject of depression--exposing all the discordant views and "answers" offered by science, philosophy, law, psychology, literature, art, and history. The result is a sprawling and thoroughly engrossing study, brilliantly synthesized by author Andrew Solomon.
Deceptively simple chapter titles(including "Breakdowns," "Treatments," "Addiction," "Suicide") each sit modestly atop a virtual avalanche of Solomon's intellect. This is not a book to be skimmed. But Solomon commands the language--and his topic--with such grace and empathy that the constant flow of references, poems, and quotations in his paragraphs arrive like welcome dinner guests.
A longtime sufferer of severe depression himself, Solomon willingly shares his life story with readers. He discusses updated information on various drugs and treatment approaches while detailing his own trials with them. He describes a pharmaceutical company's surreal stage production (involving Pink Floyd, kick dancers, and an opener à la Cats) promoting a new antidepressant to their sales team. He chronicles his research visits to assorted mental institutions, which left him feeling he would "much rather engage with every manner of private despair than spend a protracted time" there. Under Solomon's care, however, such tales offer much more than shock value.
They show that depression knows no social boundaries, manifests itself quite differently in each person, and has become political. And, while it may worsen or improve, depression will never be eradicated. Hope lies in finding ways--as Solomon clearly has--to harness its powerful lessons. --Liane Thomas
****************
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| ashu |
Posted
on 09-Jan-02 06:21 AM
What follows is a book review I wrote for The Kathmandu Post Review of Books. This was published on July 25, 1999 in an issue co-ordinated by Manjushree
Thapa.
********
This Life on Lithium
A review of:
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
by Kay Redfield Jamison
By Ashutosh Tiwari
Doctors enjoy talking about their specialties. What they don’t enjoy is talking about their own battles with various afflictions, be they cancer, drug addiction or, God forbid, clinical depression. Kay Redfield Jamison is a refreshing exception. A tenured professor of psychiatry at the prestigious Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland, USA, she is one of the world’s leading experts on manic-depressive illness. It is an illness she knows all too well, personally as well as professionally.
"As long as I can remember," she writes, "I was frighteningly beholden to moods…intensely emotional as a child, mercurial as a young girl, first severely depressed as an adolescent, and then unrelentingly caught up in the cycles of manic-depressive illness by the time [she] started [her] professional life," she became "by necessity and intellectual inclination, a student of moods."
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness is Jamison’s brutally honest and poetically charged memoir about how an intelligent, beautiful and cultured woman like herself has lived with two identities that stand in sharp contrast to one another. The first identity is that of a wailing, helpless manic-depressive who, from time to time, completely loses her emotional moorings, only to oscillate wildly between feelings of giddy grandeur and crushing despair—leaving relationships, credit ratings, academic performance and much else besides in utter ruins.
Her other identity is that of a stable psychiatrist who does path-breaking research, wins professional plaudits, savors romance with lovers, enjoys the arts and music, and helps train the next generation of doctors. Against this backdrop, this memoir can best be read as riveting, frightening yet ultimately inspiring stories of Jamison’s wars against herself as she continues to wrestle with bouts of manic-depression in an attempt to lead a happy, productive life.
Just what is manic-depressive illness? Quite simply, it is often described as a severe disorder of moods. It is a disease nonetheless, as Jamison eloquently writes in her quotable introduction, that "kills tens of thousands of [women and men] every year: most [of whom] are young, die unnecessarily, and are among the most imaginative and gifted that we as a society have." Yet she goes on: "The major clinical problem in treating manic-depressive illness is not that there are not effective medications—there are—but that patients so often refuse to take them."
Besides, as Jamison puts it, "because of a lack of information, poor medical advice, stigma, or fear of personal and professional reprisals, they do not seek treatment at all." The illness "distorts moods and thoughts, incites dreadful behaviors, destroys the basis of rational thought, and too often erodes the desire and will to live. It is biological in origins, yet one feels psychological in the experience of it; an illness that is unique in conferring advantage and pleasure, yet one that brings in its wake almost unendurable suffering and, not infrequently, suicide."
Jamison traces the roots of her manic episodes to watching her brilliant, idiosyncratic father periodically fly high and come crashing down on his emotional roller-coaster when she was a child. In college, which was an emotionally traumatic rite of passage to her, she spends more time on research at labs than at getting good grades. Her research skills get her into graduate school, where she finds "freedom from the highly structured existence of undergraduate studies." There she delves into experimental psychology, and, as a student-researcher, interacts with a variety of patients with mental health problems.
Offered a teaching position upon the completion of the PhD, Jamison starts a job at a time when her mania hits her with full force. Of that period, she writes, "My marriage was falling apart…I was increasingly restless, irritable and I craved excitement: all of a sudden, I found myself rebelling against the very things I most loved about my husband: his kindness, stability, warmth and love. I impulsively reached out for a new life…credit cards are disastrous [for manic-depressives], personal checks worse…."
As pieces started to fall out of Jamison’s life, it was her elder brother who, out of love and without judgment, started to settle the dust for her. He paid her bills, bought her Lithium, the medicine used by many manic-depressives, and basically "spread his wing" over her. Jamison acknowledges that not many manic-depressives are lucky to have such a loving family member, and she credits the support and care she received from her brother for putting her back on track of doing research. In the meanwhile, she started going to therapies.
And so the memoir details, in its very readable prose, intermittent periods of bliss and productivity in Jamison’s life with months of utter despair and madness. In between, in lucid terms, she talks about the latest research being done in the identification of and in the treatment of manic-depressive patients. She addresses her concerns "about writing [this book] that so explicitly describes my own attacks of mania, depression, and psychosis, as well as my problems acknowledging the need for ongoing medication."
In appearing undeterred by the possible effects of her memoir upon her personal and professional life, she displays much courage, honesty and, interestingly, pure emotional strength. But then, as anyone who, like Jamison, has battled manic-depressive illness for any amount of time may admit, once you learn to live with manic-depressive illness, there is very little that seems to be of "insurmountable difficulty."
All in all, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learned much from.
(A Tiwari has lost a couple of friends to the illness, and wonders how to learn more about mental health problems in Nepal)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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| sunakhari |
Posted
on 09-Jan-02 11:53 AM
Ashu
I must thank you for telling us how Sandesh died. I was wondering why people here were not saying anything about the cause of his death. Culturally, I understand that this was/is not something that people want to discuss but on the other hand, how can we deal with different yet-unknown-unaccepted causes of death in our society????
I did not want to seem too curious for fear of being ridiculed or even reprimanded but now that you have put it out in the open, I think it would make a healthy discussion to TALK about it - the cause! Not Sandesh himself.
A mother in Texas murdered her children and she blames it on post-partum depression. I had NEVER heard of depression while growing up in our society. When I heard about it and read about it, so many things fell into place - why did I feel down after having my baby and such.
I fail to understand why depression has never been diagnosed as a cause for so many things back home ---- we would rather want to think of juicy reasons as to why a certain person died, while it could have been just that the person was clinically depressed!
I realize I am speaking in laymans terms but that is the extent of my knowledge on this subject but surely, I would want to know more about it.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 01:33 AM
Hi Sunakhari,
In Nepal too, researchers have found out there there is much, much
depression among people here -- both in villages and in towns. Just
because we don't talk about it does not mean that we don't have it.
That touristy cliche of "simple and happy and always smiling Nepalis" is
just that: a myth.
I think we as a society have NOT developed the kind of courage and self-confidence and a sense of compassion to talk about our probems openly, and
that's life in Nepal and among Nepali communities.
That said, I think, we -- the non-depressed and relatively more energetic ones -- do ourselves and our various Nepali communities a big service if we:
a) OPENED our minds a bit,
b) LEARNT more about depression in its various forms. [Some forms are mild and temporary, some are severe and there are all kinds of variations in between.]
c) and used NON-JUDGMENTAL attitudes to be of help/assistance to those who are or who seem clinically depressed. This could mean, as friends or roommates:
our NOT making fun of them in any way,
our listening and listening to them even when we have no solutions to their problems;
our talking with them,
our laughing with them,
our helping keep them busy with or at work or with productive, positive thoughts,
or even our making ways or easier for them to seek professional help.
And doing all of the above in NON-judgemental way.
Many depressed folks get out of their depression when they regularly have
people to talk to, things to do and close friends to laugh with.
I remember how crushed I was for days when someone I knew very well at Harvard committed suicide. He seemed so fine and all right and always happy and driven. But apparently, as I later found out, that was just a facade. He was clinically depressed, and some of us -- his friends -- FAILED to see where he was
headed.
I mean, we were his friends, but we also did NOT know him very well or perhspa we did not work hard to get to know him very well, and that was our loss. He was a such a brilliant guy, and his sudden death was such a tragic loss . . . that to this day, I wonder whether I -- as his good friend who lived in the same
dormitory -- could have done something, anything to change the course.
And so, one lives and learns . . . trying to share one's experiences with
others . . . and when a preventable death like this recent one -- that of a 23-year-old happens, well, you feel helpless, outraged, angry yet sorry -- the whole rainbow of emotions -- all over.
A google search with depression as keyword gives you a list of useful sites.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Homiji |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 09:57 AM
Thankyou Ashu for your writing.
Your writing reminded me of a personal experience.
I know this boy from school who was a few grades below myself. This guy seemed different from the rest of the crowd. He wasn't exactly the most handsome, wealthy, intelligent or charismatic kid in the class. His whiny voice used to make him the butt of many jokes. This kid had this tendency to wallow in his sorrows and this made him look even more pathetic.
A couple of years ago he was threatening to commit suicide. Anytime you talked to him he'd start to complain about EVERYTHING. It was annoying just trying to talk to him and we thought that he bluffing about suicide. After all, they say that it's the silent ones you should fear, not the ones that talk about it.
Well that theory was obviously off, cause this guy oneday did decide to pull the plug on himself. Luckily he wasn't successful and he was hospitalized. They diagnosed him as a clinical depressant. He's been on medication since.
I met him recently and I was expecting the same whiny morose person. But the person I met had completely changed. I mean don't get me wrong, he's still not Don Juan. But the medication has allowed him to honestly and intelligently reflect upon his life in a positive way. It was a pleasure talking to him. He's a lot more genuine of a person than the average person you meet on the streets perhaps because he values the worth of a clear and conscious unwarped mind. He's dealing with life without being emotionally smitten and dejected. He realizes that he has a way to go to get his life togethor, but he sees it in practical terms. Before, he was more problem oriented. Now he's a lot more solution oriented and sees hope in life.
He was telling me, "Wow, I can't believe that I was that low as to try to commit suicide. I mean when I look back and see how low I was, it's scary."
This experience has given me quite a paradigm shift of how I view the power psychiatric medicine.
|
| sparsha |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 10:05 AM
More on depression issue
http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/1663.51649
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| Montou Gurung |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 10:06 AM
Ashu Dai,
Since you brought up the discussion about DEPRESSION, I being directly affected by it felt the need to write something on it.
Last Christmas the doctors diagnosed me as being a Bipolar. I am on four different medicines and one of them is Lithium. Thank God that I was in the States that I got the best care and treatment that I would not have got if I were back home. Medicines definitely helping me.
It seems people don't go to the doctors for depression in Nepal or that we don't have needed mental health professionals. But I was really shocked to see so many people in US of A come to the hospitals for treatment of Depression.
Jesus Loves You All
By His Grace,
Montou
|
| sally |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 11:05 AM
I had a friend in college who attempted suicide. Thankfully, she survived and was treated. I later felt guilty that I had missed a lot of signs. (For instance, she was anorexic, but made a good show of being just a naturally thin vegetarian.)
It can be very difficult for friends to tell if someone is depressed, especially if the person has a personality that seems to conflict with the whole idea of being depressed. That’s why it’s so important for society as a whole to become aware of the signs of things like depression, domestic violence, or alcoholism.
Here’s what one famous person who has successfully battled depression has said publically about it:
“My self-esteem dropped to zero. I couldn’t eat, sleep, or talk about it ... I was lower than a snake’s belly. And my own doctor ... didn’t pick it up. I used to call him in the middle of the night. And he said, ‘Mike, you’re strong. You’ll get over it. You’re strong.’ Well, the fact of the matter is I didn’t.”
The speaker? Mike Wallace, of “60 Minutes.” (From a CBS Website).
Depression doesn’t discriminate. It must have seemed to the rest of the world that Wallace was an energetic man with every reason for high self-esteem. He was finally encouraged to get help by two friends of his who also must have seemed, on the outside, like models of success: author William Styron and humorist Art Buchwald. Both had also battled depression.
Ted Turner and comic Robin Williams have been diagnosed as manic-depressive, along with a large number of creative people. From the stories I’ve heard of his life, I imagine Laxmi Prasad Devkota may have been manic-depressive (and self-medicating with alcohol), though he was of course undiagnosed.
Here’s are some other names (from a Google search):
Winston Churchill
Menachim Begin (Israeli prime minister and Nobel laureate)
Norman Rockwell (that’s right, the guy who painted all those cheery pictures of American life)
“Peanuts” creator Charles Schultz
French philosopher Michel Foucault
Writers Samuel Becket, Truman Capote, and Herman Hesse
Audrey Hepburn (the ideally elegant, glamorous movie star)
Claude Monet (Impressionist painter)
Cole Porter (swing era composer)
Eleanor Roosevelt
Thelonius Monk (jazz musician)
All of them apparently had bouts of medically diagnosed depression.
Researchers are finding out more and more that depression has a physical component--for instance, high stress levels may be related to shrinkage of the volume of the hippocampus and amygdala. (The hippocampus, I think, is involved in memory,while the amygdala is a part of the brain often located in postings by Ashu ... oops, I mean it's a part of the brain involved in the emotions.)
So it's not a big leap to suspect that negative life experiences--such as childhood abuse (in my friend's case, she had been sexually abused as a child)--could have an impact on the brain that would make a person susceptible to depression. Presumably genetics could be involved as well. In that case, it's certainly not a sign of some innate flaw, or "craziness." It's a physical issue, like epilepsy or a predisposition to certain cancers.
What a horrible, horrible thing it must be to see see a friend or loved one throw away all their potential, talent, hopes, and dreams in a moment of despair that could well have become merely a bad memory, if only the problem had been recognized without shame and treated with the matter-of-factness of any other medical issue.
|
| arnico |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 11:11 AM
Montou. Thank you for the courage to speak out and share about yourself.
And everyone else on the thread, thank you for getting it started and getting it going. It is sad that it took a death in our community for us to start addressing issues of depression and bipolar depression. Let us make sure that Sandesh did not die in vain, and let us make sure not just that it never happens again, but also that we all educate ourselves more about both mental health problems and resources.
In recent months I have had to deal with (newly diagnosed) cases of both depression and bipolar depression among my extended family... as well as, in recent years, having five friends (in four different countries) who chose the same route as Sandesh did. It has been both draining and educational. I have had the fortune of being able to visit first bookstores in Harvard square, and more recently, a Border's in Southeast Asia... and build up a small library of readings on issues of mental health... I won't have access to those books until in about a week... please remind me to post references then...
Two things that really struck me though: first, the realization of how horribly little I knew about any of the mental health diseases before I specifically started reading about them (whether about causes, or symptoms, or treatments)...(what happened? why did my teachers fail with that?) and second, about how big a taboo it is in many places for people to mention anything in public, or to even dare to seek help. We really need to both learn more, and to be more open about it... to face up to the problems, and to treat any disease, whether caused by bacteria, virus, or neurotransmitter problems as a diseases... a disease that needs first be acknowledged, and second treated... and we need turn ourselves into community members who monitor eachothers' mental health and who in a respectful and friendly way help eachother get the treatment that is needed.
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| Trailokya Aryal |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 01:32 PM
Dear Ashu dai and Arniko ji,
Thanks for the insights, and after hearing about the tragic "incident" at the bakery this evening, i too want to share something:
Some Mr A gets a full scholarship rto study in the US. But the condition is that he has to maintain certain GPA to continue getting his scholarship. And he is a young boy of 18.. he had never been to the US before, and immediately after two months of his stay in the US, he goes through culture shock, this and that. Then summer, he has no friends to talk to, no money.. no job (because he is confined to a small town in the middle of nowehere...).Needless to say he too got depressed, he wanted to go back to nepal. He too got sucidial tendencies. But, thanks god, a counsiling (sp??) center was there, he didn't hesitate to go there. Although, no pills were prescribed, he felt relieved just by telling his problems to the counslar... then after a series of meetings, he could open up to new people... he started to make friends..life became a little easier. By the end of the fall semeser, he didn't think he was a misfit, he made friends, hung out with them, sometimes got drunk, occasionally smoke some humble county weed.. still he missed nepal, but he knew that either he can go back to nepal, or stay there, finish his studies, then go back to nepal. He opted for the latter. He spent time reading books, listening to the beatles,going out with his friends.. and he started enjoying his life. Although there were few incidents in his life which revived all those "tendencies" he stood firm.. didn't give up..and found a way to deal with his problems.. it would get really hard when everybody would leave campus during the spring break or the fall break.. then he would go to nepali discussion boards. p[ost messages and keep himself busy. This is how he spent 4 years in college. He didn't make many friends, but just three and those three friends always madehim realize that he was not alone.. he had people to count on.. and they were always open to him.. he could go to their hosues, spend nights there.. go out fo the movies, but he would still get momenatry depression(s).. but he didn't give up..life's like this, he taught himself. And was able to graduate on time. Then he had to move to an entirely new town and things weren't very favorable fo him there.. but he hung on, lif was tough but visiting museums and spending countless hours on this board would make him forget what he was going through, but he still was in contact with the counsalar of his school who helped him boost self confedence, offered excellent advise on relationships and this and that.
wanna know who that guy was? IT was ME, I have no shame admitting that i too went through as series of depression, but i got excellent counseling at the Monsiur Counciling center of the claremont colleges.. first i though, i was probably the only one going there for help but later i found out that many studeemnts would go there to seek help with various issues affecting their life, self-esteem..
after having coffee with arnikoji and ashu dai at the bakery this evening, i too felt like sharing my experience. Depression is nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, we don't feel aashamed going to a doctore when we are down with fever/flu or other disease, then why should we feel ashamed to go see a pshychiatrit (sp??).. depression is not going insane, or lossing mental control. It happnes to everyone. And i totally agree with ashu dai and arniko ji, its nothing to be ashamed of and sandesh's death could have have been prevented. But, alas, we coluldn't. But, if there are others who are having a hard time dealing with their issues, or want to go see a phsyiatrist, then go.. seek counseling.. don't be ashamed.. we all go through this.
Dear San, wouldn't it be a good idea to add a resources section in which you list (we all will contribute) the names of the hospitals, counslars and organizations that offer help to people who are haviong a hard time dealing with their issues... San, i think this will help prevent another sandesh incident. As a long time visitor/poster of this board, i sincerely request you to add a new section. We can work together, and hopefully help prevent another sandeesh incident.
PS- Arniko ji, thanks again for the coffee, it was nice seeing you. I did give "it" to Prof. Joeseph Elder and he has asked me to pass on his warm regards. I will send his email add/contact nos at your email address.
Trailokya Aryal
|
| sparsha |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 02:14 PM
Hi Trailokya,
Thanks for sharing your story. In the name of Sandesh, let's have a section where we could provide resources for depression help. We just can't offered to loose more people like Sandesh to this "managable" depression.
"..Then he had to move to an entirely new town and things weren't very favorable fo him there.. but he hung on, lif was tough but visiting museums and spending countless hours on this board would make him forget what he was going through..."
I thought you were enjoying the "new town" may be not jobwise but ...anyway.
|
| san |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 02:29 PM
For the current time being, I have created a new USERGROUP called "DEPRESSION" whereby you can post resources and links on the subject. This usergroup can also be used as a question answer forum where people can ask help on personal problems.
To encourage anonymous posting, the ID has been removed from this usergroup.
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| Regular_gbnc_observer. |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 02:31 PM
Trailokya!
You are brave soul. My hat's off to your candid story.
|
| NK |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 02:47 PM
should I write something? or should i wait? As a person who has spent many many hours on a chair, not quite facing the back of the psychiatrist though (they always looked at me), I feel like sharing something, but i guess not just yet....
|
| sathi |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 03:55 PM
The first thing that i know we need to do as freinds and family is to take everyone seriously. Every word counts. If someone says he is gonna kill himself while intoxicated; we cannot let ourselseves be fooled by his status. We need to approach the person next day while he is sober and talk to him/her.
Thanks
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| regular_gbnc_observer |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 05:13 PM
Couple years ago, I came across a book called " The price of greatness" by Arlnold Ludwieg(sp?). I found that book was not fun to read so I didn't read the whole book in its entirity. But that book gives lots of example of creative people who have mental illness and tries to establish connection between creativity and mental illness.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 02:43 AM
Dear Montou and Trailokya,
I was moved to read your stories; you are both very courageously honest
young Nepalis, and as a Nepali, I have drawn much courage from your
postings in this thread.
Arnico and Trailokya -- it was great talking with you over coffee and sharing
ideas, views and news.
San, good job getting that usergroup up and running. Let's all share stories and learn much more about all these TREATABLE and MANAGEABLE mental health issues. After all, to build on Sparsha's words, we cannnot afford to lose another young and talented Nepali either in Nepal or in some foreign land to some untreated case of depression just because we did not know enough.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| villageVoice |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 09:10 AM
Trailokyaji:
First of all, I sincerely appreciate your attempt to DE-mystify depression. Trust me, you are not alone to have suffered from the disease.
Yes, the commonly held belief, even among the educated Nepalis, is that depression is NOT Nepal's problem. Didn't we say the same thing about AIDS once?
And look where we are now?
The travails that Nepal's been through, especially in the past 10 years, are bound to leave their mark on individuals. Well, 10 years many not be a long time in a nation's history, but it sure is in a person's life. To anyone, who say in 1990 was just 15 years-old, the 90s have certainly been very difficult. Fiirst the triumphs and, later the pitfalls of democracy. The young minds surely aren't always capable of rationalizing a diifficult transition phase. In a nation which has grown pessimistic and cynical over the years, it can be very difficult to detach oneself from the collective pshyche.
Here's why I worry a lot about this. Newspapers and TV networks in New York, for eg, say there's been an upsurge in mental problems in the city, espcially among the young and vulnerable, since 9/11. Doctors visiting Afghanistan, which has seen continuous bloodbath for more than 20 years, say the country has a HUGE, HUGE number of the mentally ill.
I just refuse to believe that Nepal's own difficult transition hasn't left its mark on its people.
I am not discussing here the individual makeup of one's mind/brain, and family history, which make some of us more prone to depression than the others.
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| villageVoice |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 09:20 AM
And thank you to you, Ashu, for having started a soul-searching thread.
Maybe I would want to discuss my own difficult times--and the on-campus loneliness--during my first year in America here. Some day. When I gain a better perspective on the turn of events that were not always under my control.
What's that Simon & Garfunkel line, "People hearing without listening/ people writing song that voices never sing....Sounds of silence..." Someone pls help me complete that beutiful, and poignanat, number - certainly one of my ALLTIME favorites.
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| Homiji |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 09:37 AM
Everyone feels the blues every once in a while. I think this is quite normal. So how do we tell the difference between someone going through the occasional 'blues' to someone who is out and out depressed??
We have all heard of the placebo effect that medicine has on people. In a similar way, the power of the mind is great so people could also imagine that they are sick when they really aren't. What kind of analysis would reveal the true condition?
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| Binay |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 10:03 AM
Another sad news.
http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/jan/11/11012002mt.htm#A9
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| Binay |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 10:09 AM
Sorry for the broken link in my earlier posting. The following link takes you to a very sad news about a Nepali student, who committed suicide after severe depression.
http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/jan/11/11012002mt.htm#A9
Nepali student commits suicide in RMC
from Our Correspondent
RAJSHAHI, Jan 10: Saumit Rozario (20) a Nepali Student of Second- year of Rajshahi Medical College committed suicide in his hostel room last noon.
Sources said, Saumit, son of Guru Prashad Rozario of Shibnagar village under Kapilabastu district of Nepal last noon locked up his room from inside an swallowed insecticide.
His roommates who returned after finishing their classes found the door of the room closed from inside. Then they broke the door open and found Saumit lying on the floor. They took him to the hospital where the attending doctors declared him dead.
Saumit in a suicide note, left on the table of his room, wrote that nobody was responsible for his death.
His roommates said Saumit had been suffering from depression following his repeated failure in the examination and today he was supposed to take another examination.
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| sparsha |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 10:47 AM
Another thread here in this kurakani section mentions that Sandesh was being treated at Cambridge Hospital for depression(?). I don't know if that is true but if it is then what we must understand is Sandesh knew his problem and was looking for the help or solution(s). Did the hospital offered him more depression than help? or what triggered him to leave behind his life? was anyone with him at the time of incidence?
I have so many questions on this but don't know how to put them here and make people know that I am NOT trying to downplay his (sandesh's) death or offend anyone.
We just knew another loss of Nepali youth in B'desh. Like I said we just can't afford to loose our fellow people to this manageable and treatable depression.
May be we should be watching (certainly not spying) each other more closely. This is not the sole solution but it may help to prevent more tragedies.
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| been there and not afraid |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 11:02 AM
some symptoms of acute depression: loss of appetite, tears for smallest possible reason, loss of sexual appetite, not wanting to get out of the bed, lack of motivation, feeling of inadequacy, thoughts of committing suicide. I can remember only these at this moment. i am sure there are thousands of link to provide the information 'how to know when you are going through depression.'
i agree, you have to know when you are just feeling blues or you are indeed depressed that needs to be treated. oh, my doctor also said you gotta eat a lot of fish and vitamin supply omega-3. he also said poets are prone to depression. so poets out there eat a lot of fish. And there is alway prozac and celexa, zoloft.... Then in a week or so we will start a new thread - "Prozac Nation."
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| Homiji |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 12:13 PM
What does fish have that stops depression?
What do vegetarian poets eat??
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| been there and not afraid |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 12:34 PM
the omega-3 thing, you dummy. maybe the vegetarian poets should eat tons of those supplements and think about converting themselves to 'fish-eaters-but-stil- partially vegetarian' or something like that.
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| krishna |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 01:37 PM
>What does fish have that stops depression?
S/he said omega-3 (a fatty acid, I believe) is thought to help. Sardines and salmon--especially the non-farmed variety in the case of salmon--are loaded with it.
>What do vegetarian poets eat??
Regardless of (a)vocation, vegetarians/vegans can eat flax seed, which is also a good source of omega-3.
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| sally |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 02:04 PM
How in the world do you eat flax seed???
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| NK |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 02:09 PM
what is a flax seed?
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| sally |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 02:16 PM
According to Webster's, it's the seed of a plant "manufactured into fiber yarn for linen or woven fabrics." The seed is "used oas a source of oil and medicinally as a demulcent and emollient."
A demulcent is a "mucilaginous substance that can soothe or protect an abraded mucous membrane." (Are we all enlightened now??) An emollient is "something that softens or smoothes."
Yum yum.
I find, from the Web, that flax seed is contained in pet food. It can also be ordered from a site that supplies shark cartilage.
I think I'll stick with salmon.
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| Dictionary.com |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 02:19 PM
Did you know that if you double click on a word in this forum, you will be taken to Dictionary.com to show the meaning of the word?
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| NK |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 02:40 PM
thank you Sally. and the original question: "how can you eat that?"
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| sally |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 03:36 PM
I think you have to eat it with a lot of chocolate. That’s how it works to cure depression. Otherwise it could be counterproductive, because you’d be thinking, “geez, I’m eating flax. Am I nuts???” So chocolate is definitely the key. How about it? Flax Chocolate Mousse, anyone?
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| NK |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 04:41 PM
Mousse Choco Fla! (trying to sound French, how am I doing?)mmmm... already feels good. Now I have to call my shrink to tell him I don't need him anymore.
[disclaimer: I am not making fun of people with this ailment, I would be the last person to do it.]
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| sally |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 05:02 PM
Well, humor is one cure for depression, right? :-)
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| ghantauke |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 09:45 PM
DEPRESSION IS THE FASTEST GROWING MENTAL ILLNESS OF THE 21ST.CENTURY BROTHERS AND SISTERS OR VICE VERSA.
I do not think people in depressed mood would like to eat sweets. Depressed people if they eat sweets then it could make them even more depressed. Why? Choclates are symbolism of sexual seduction or erotic fantasy. For example, if one gives the other of the opposite sex 'baci' or Italian hand made chocolate then it means giving a baci = kiss chocolate. Semioyically, the darkness of chocolate is allabout erotic seduction of the other sex. Why? As a marketer in practise of advertising, I can make you imagine how chocolate manufacturers' advertsie chocolates. They use a blonde girl with big boobies suck a long bar of chocolate. What does it symbolise? A girl is easy to seduce as she can perform oral sex in a male phallus. Sorry, that the analysis has gone to far.
Depressed people are suffering from Freud stated expression of 'mortido' or wanting to die. Happy people suffer from libido or wanting to live. That is the difference. Here I live you think about my proposition.
See ya!
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| ghantauke |
Posted
on 11-Jan-02 09:46 PM
DEPRESSION IS THE FASTEST GROWING MENTAL ILLNESS OF THE 21ST.CENTURY BROTHERS AND SISTERS OR VICE VERSA.
I do not think people in depressed mood would like to eat sweets. Depressed people if they eat sweets then it could make them even more depressed. Why? Choclates are symbolism of sexual seduction or erotic fantasy. For example, if one gives the other of the opposite sex 'baci' or Italian hand made chocolate then it means giving a baci = kiss chocolate. Semioyically, the darkness of chocolate is allabout erotic seduction of the other sex. Why? As a marketer in practise of advertising, I can make you imagine how chocolate manufacturers' advertsie chocolates. They use a blonde girl with big boobies suck a long bar of chocolate. What does it symbolise? A girl is easy to seduce as she can perform oral sex in a male phallus. Sorry, that the analysis has gone to far.
Depressed people are suffering from Freud stated expression of 'mortido' or wanting to die. Happy people suffer from libido or wanting to live. That is the difference. Here I live you think about my proposition.
See ya!
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| sunakhari |
Posted
on 12-Jan-02 08:37 AM
Avoid DBT at all costs! It makes one drowsy, lazy and has shown to have effects on the productive side of the brain. :) If you don't believe me, take leftover dbt to work. It will surely arouse the others' senses, but yours, it will dim :).
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| MLS |
Posted
on 12-Jan-02 04:09 PM
>I think you have to eat it with a lot of
>chocolate. That’s how it works to cure
>depression. Otherwise it could be
>counterproductive, because you’d be
>thinking, “geez, I’m eating flax.
> Am I nuts???” So chocolate is
>definitely the key. How about it? Flax
>Chocolate Mousse, anyone?
You know when you eat chocolate, "endorphine" which affects alpha or beta (i forgot) cells in the brain." Endorphine" is something like "morphine" which kind of gives you a feeling of happiness and pleasure and high in larger doses.
Endorphine is also related with sex. May be the secretion of the brain. Chocolate(s) definitely don't produce that much of pleasure as sex does but to the lesse degree. So, the direct therapeutic effect of flax may be imposed by the amount and the quality of chocolate used. If you are more concerned about your weight, eating flax alone would be fine, I think.
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