Stigmatization and Anti-Stigmatization Trends

   This week was the antiracial movement week. I will not enter in this subject, but I will raise the awareness about a similar trend in the health system: The stigmatization or anti-stigmatization trend.

    In the health field it is something very frequent.We just know that we encounter a lot of people who bullies others human beings for any imperfection, for any visible handicap or for any mental or physical illness. This is not correct but it is still present in our society. Apparently we cannot intervene in situations like that, but we can raise the awareness on this issue.

   In my opinion it is a problem of education, which apparently not everyone has.

A very good proverb says to not judge somebody, until you don’t walk a mile in their shoes. And how much truth it is in these words.

    In our society, we encounter blind people, deaf or mute people, people with neuromotory handicap, paralyzed people in their wheelchairs or using canes and people born with all sorts of handicaps which suffer physically and psychologically.

       Ideally, our society has to be a very accommodative one. And clearly on this point, the medicine has made a lot of progress in order to help these people. Politically speaking, we can also see progress, in the sense that we can encounter nowadays, a lot of organizations or foundations which fight for the well being of these people.

       But the problem still and will exist because a lot of ,,healthy” people continue to stigmatize these sick or unfortunate people.

In my childhood, I was very used to have people around me, with all sorts of problems but I was educated to consider them like everybody else and I can assure you, they really are.

     As a doctor, I have worked with children with all sorts of disabilities and it was an enriched and enlightened experience for me. I was always amaze, how these people have such a capacity to accept things which are not their fault, to move on with their lives, to develop new capacities or new abilities or to acquire new knowledges.

       A lot of people have the inferiority complex and they really fight against it. The most of them try so hard to surpass their temporary or permanent disability, giving us such a good example of survival , open-mindness and elevation of the spirit.

   In mental health, the stigmatization is more often, because people didn't acknowledged the fact, that these people are sick, some of them are born like that or some of them became mentally instable after different shocks in their life.

    The society nowadays became so senseless and intolerant, having no compassion for these kinds of people. In the same time, I can assure you, the sick people don’t look for compassion, but for the right to be seen and treated equally.

    We must to see the good and beautiful part in them, to see what they are capable of and using theirs capacities and capabilities to the fullest. We must to help them also being autonomous, helping them to become employed, to treat them equally, giving them the same rights in our society and why not, reaching the well being, things we also want for ourselves.

We must to treat the person near us exactly, how we want to be treated! No less, no more!

Depression

   In the last two decades, the incidence of this illness is so  increasing that clearly deserves at least a  briefly approach. 

It is very important to be very attentive to ourselves, because we and our entourage are the first to observe the changes in our behaviour .

   In the most cases this illness is misdiagnosed or the patient doesn't consider to pay a visit to a doctor. Not to mention that some of us consider we just have a bad time,  this is temporary and don't look for any medical advice. 

  I will resume for you some of the most important changes in our mental health .

     Firstly, we will be sad for a long period of time , more than  2 weeks,without reason or being under the drugs influence.       
    Secondly, we will lose all interest for any pleasurable activities which we loved before . No one  from these will make you happy again. 

    Thirdly, we feel guilty all the time , with /without reason, but in general is a fabricated guilt. 

We will lose the energy to do things and have an easy fatigability on minor activities. We lose our concentration, we cannot focus on things, we cannot learn, read, we can see that very easily when the patient is an academic. We lose the attention, which means we will be easily distracted. We can have an phsychomotor instability,being in general very agitated, sweating all the time. Sleeping is very disturbed, we cannot sleep or if we sleep, we wake up in the middle of the night and cannot fall asleep again. Irritability will be just a side effect of this involuntary sleep deprivation. Eating also is a problem, eating to much or less, losing or gaining weight as in the eating disorders.  

Some patients will contemplate suicide , some of them will make a plan, and others just contemplate the idea , but this will be in general in the major depression.

   The most important triad in depression is Worthlessness-Hopelessness-Helplessness, which make the patient think he is not worth to live, he is not useful to the society, he has no hope , he is desperate, a lost cause and he cannot be helped by other peers. Not to forget, this is a treatable illness in which you can see changes in minimum 2 weeks after you begin the treatment. The compliance to the treatment is mandatory. 

Did you remark these symptoms on you for a period longer than 2 weeks? Is it anything which can relieve these symptoms?

    Maybe is the time to pay a visit to your doctor, if you remark at least five from all these symptoms and for a period longer than 2 weeks.
 Definitely, depression should not be a life sentence.