Headline: Who the Bleep cares about madness?
By: Selma Carvalho
Source: Goan Voice 19 October 2009 at
http://goanvoice.org.uk/newsletter/2009/October/2009_October_19.html
Full text:
Last Friday I attended World Mental Health Day, 2009, in Uxbridge London. I
wasnt quite prepared to walk into a room of 300 odd participants who at
various points in their life had all suffered from some kind of mental
dysfunction. Madness as we used to call it back in the day, makes me
uncomfortable. It makes us all uncomfortable. Those darting eyes, not quite
at peace with the world, that fearful look, the quivering mouth, the
slightly spasmic body, the out of place laughter or the perpetual
melancholia hanging loosely about the lips, all signs that the person is a
little unhinged and whose presence is a reminder of the precariousness of
life and nature.
I was assigned to selling a book, titled Sectioned, A Life Interrupted by
John ODonoghue. The author, ODonoghue, spry, eyes brimming with curiosity
about the world, sat next to me signing away the book and listening intently
to people who dropped by to relate their own stories and struggles with
mental illness. To listen to ODonoghue, who incidentally has a Masters
Degree, it is hard to believe this intelligent, articulate and profoundly
gifted individual also suffers from depression and episodic break-downs. He
told me candidly that when he is in a state, which he describes as florid
he truly believes he is John the Baptist. I asked him if there was a
single part of his being, an iota of his mind, a measure of his
consciousness that could elevate itself from this state and tell himself
that he wasnt infact John the Baptist, at that moment, and sadly he said
no.
We in Goa suffer from almost a triple whammy when it comes to mental health,
that of shame, guilt and ignorance. If the slightest form of mental
ill-health makes its appearance in our families, be it depression or
dysfunction, we are at once consumed by shame, the urgent desire to hide it
from societys ugly glare, brush it under the carpet but on the other hand
we are also blighted by ignorance. We feel the need to blame someone for it,
not as in finding a causative factor but finding some divine or shamanistic
reasons for it, and a possible cure through these avenues.
One of the saddest things I have witnessed is mental illness being treated
by a trip to the Mhar or to places such as Potta, where parents hope to
find a cure. Sick people are prayed over, sometimes even beaten so that
the demons in them dissipate, vanish, and they return to what we consider
normal. I know of one girl, who suffering from a mild depression was taken
to see one of these quack-healers. The healer put his hands on her and
promptly told the parents that she was infested with several demons and
should be exorcised and then incarcerated. Instead of dealing with what is a
mental disability, the situation had taken on an even darker tone by the
girl being held responsible for her state, accused of being a medieval witch
of sorts. The fact is, mental illness is no different than a cut in the leg,
a physical wound which needs a dressing, medication, attention, time to heal
and constant care.
It is imperative that we as Goans come to a clearer understanding of mental
ill-health especially when rough statistics point to one in four people
having the propensity to be mentally depressed. This is an ailment that is
not going to go away, indeed solitary modern lifestyles, without the support
of traditional families and the isolation this engenders is likely to put
more and more stress on us mentally. But there is hope, mental illness can
be managed and mentally ill people can lead functional lives.
Do leave your feedback at carvalho_...@yahoo.com
