We Are All A Little Crazy

May is mental health awareness month, and as a psychology major, mental health and mental illness is a normal thing for me to hear and for me to talk about. But for many others, it isn't. It makes people feel uncomfortable or awkward, and they get the image of a crazy person. This image can vary, but typically, they think of a person who is hearing voices or seeing things.

The stigma that is associated with mental health is saddening. This stigma, comes from ignorance and fear. The judgement passed on people with a mental illness, is in a sense, a mental illness itself. Those who pass judgement are coping with the fear they have, which, in itself, is a defense mechanism. Society needs to learn to look at mental health the same way it looks at other forms of medicine. Your brain can get sick, just like your stomach or your heart. By sick, I don't mean cancer, I mean depression and anxiety. The chemical imbalances are an illness, just as cardiovascular disease or acid re-flux are illnesses.

Mental illness is one of the leading causes of disability in today's world. Depression, the largest mental illness, is the 3rd leading cause of disability. With all the people diagnosed with a mental health problem, filing for assistance due to their disability, you would think that they are being helped. But the sad truth is that most aren't.

Most people don't understand what depression really is. In a talk by comedian Ruby Wax, she describes people's reaction to depression perfectly. She says that when she was institutionalized for depression, people would tell her to "perk up." Jokingly, she says "Because I didn't think of that already." But that is the truth. Those not educated in psychology don't understand that depression is more than just feeling sad. Telling yourself to feel happy or to smile or to move on, is not going to work. True depression is hopelessness. It's not seeing that things can get better. It's a frame of mine that is hard to shake. People who are genuinely depressed, need mental health care.

Vikram Patel is a mental health advocate, and a psychologist who has created a model to help those with mental illness.  In Europe alone, 50% of those with mental illness do not receive the care they need, and once you look at developing countries, the number increases to a staggering 90%. That's 90% of people who are not being treated. That, to me, is insane.

Patel spoke at a TED conference in June of 2012 in Scotland. Here, he described in more detail what I mentioned above. He went on to describe a model of care that involves task shifting. This trains general community members to be able to do specific medical tasks, such as delivering babies or diagnosing particular illnesses. So why not mental health care too?

This would allow those in developing countries that do not have access to psychiatrists, to receive some form of metal health care. Through this model, you can train community members in specific types of psychotherapy, such as cognitive or psychosocial therapies. In his research, Patel found that this community treatment has a high success rate with depression and anxiety. Empowering community members to take control of their lives and the lives of their family and friends is a great thing. Seeing people as people and not as their diagnosis of schizophrenia or depressed, is where it starts, and where it goes, is endless.

While we focus on money and war and water and oil, mental health falls away. I'm not saying those things aren't important, I know they are, but as someone who has been on both sides of the mental health system, I can tell you, first hand, the importance of care. So what do we do? How do we help? I don't have those answers, but I can tell you that I am going to use my degree that I will be getting in 9 short days to figure it out.

Sanitation

Poop. Its taboo, something no one wants to talk about. In today's world, it something we all know happens, everyone does it, yes guys, even us women. But the issue no one wants to talk about in public.

I watched a Ted Talk by Rose George, a specialist in sanitation. In her video, she discussed the lack of sewer systems. 2.5 billion people worldwide do not have an adequate toilet. That's 40% of the world's population. You may think, what's the big deal? But there are 50 communicable diseases that can be transmitted through poop alone. So these people without sanitation systems are at a higher risk to contracting these diseases.

Diarrhea is just one of the problems associated with inadequate sewer systems. 4,000 children die around the world each day from the problems due to diarrhea. Diarrhea is the 2nd leading killer of children, more than HIV/AIDS, TB, and measles combined.

But we can fix this. This a problem we can stop from getting worse and from continuing. History shows us that a flushable toilet can improve mortality rates. In the mid 19th century, Victorian engineers installed sewer systems and mortality rates dropped drastically. The expense is minimal when compared to the $260 billion lost on lack of sanitation.

In class we have spent a lot of time talking about fuel and renewable resources and replacements once we run out of oil. At a prison in Rwanda, 75% of the energy needed to cook, is coming from the inmate's own waste. When the fecal matter is in a tank, it acts as it would in the stomach, and produced natural gas, which can in turn be used for energy. This easily renewable resource is practically inexhaustible, and free at production.

A large part of combating the lack of sanitation is awareness. In America, we are used to the idea of toilets and sewer systems, so going without is crazy to us. But when pooping in the streets is what you know, a toilet is a crazy idea. Its been seen in developing countries when government installs toilets, they go back some time later and find that they aren't being used. People do not realize the problem with pooping in the streets, so they continue to do so even when alternatives are available.

As we have all seen through our own class projects, raising awareness is one of the biggest solutions across the board when combating global problems. Particularly with this topic, one that we see as dirty, no one wants to talk about it. But awareness is a powerful thing. Public awareness leads to political awareness. Awareness leads to discussion. Discussion leads to action. Action leads to improved standards of living.

What are your thoughts? Yes, this is subject we hide, but to make change, we have to talk about the things no one else wants to.