Depression, a word very well known to me. Throughout my life, I had symptoms that were always associated with this condition: imnsonia, loss of appetite, weight loss, heart palpitations, crying episodes, sadness, despair. After years of suffering, occasional treatments (mainly psychoterapy), I was diagnosed as dysthimic.
According to Wikipedia, Dysthymia is a mood disorder consisting of the same cognitive and physical problems as in depression, with less severe but long-lasting symptoms. And this term was coined by Dr. Robert Spizter as a replacement for depressive personality.
I don´t know why Dr. Spitzer got to the conclusion that depressive personality was bad, I´m sure there are very good reasons, but that wouldn´t change much to me, be considered a dysthimic or a depressive person instead. I just remeber hearing from a very dear friend of mine, "Alex, (she calls me Alex), you´re just too heavy all the time". And she was right. I wanted to be myself, until I realized this is socially unacceptable. No one really wants to have a depressive (dysthimic) person around. We´re too heavy, we drain people´s energy, we don´t enjoy the "small pleasures of every day life". And I just remembered an expression a Beligian friend used, that I thought was lovely, not for the expression per se, but for the fact that he translated from his mother tongue (Flemish) to English and used ignoring if that was possible. I mean, I think it´s always a possibility, creating a new use for a word, new terms. Languages change everyday, but I do remember his expression raised some eyebrows, "fishy", that´s what he said, in the sense that something wasn´t quite good, or that it called the attention for smelling bad.. So, that´s the case, dysthimics are kind of fishy. We don´t smell bad, but we dont fit quite well.
And all that came to me while I was reading an article about how cultural aspects can influence in the identification and definition of mental illlnesses (HERE). It starts with a discussion over the latest DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder), and the main point is whether the DSM Comittee is not expanding the categories of mental illnesses too much, creating a "diagnostic inflation" . I don´t know, and I can´t tell, but I always believed that the number of trully sane people has to be very low. Anyway, the point I wanted to highlight was that there´s a discussion on whether cultural aspects may affect on diagnosis, and there are researchers that do believe depression is a western-culture bound syndrome, since there´s not a consensus in psychiatry on either the definition or the symptons of the illness. In addition to that, no discrete genetic variation could be linked to depression up to the present moment. There seems to be an overlap accrosss a range of mental illnesses. So, according to them, maybe what we call depression in our western cultures is not seen as such in the east, or maybe it´s not considered to be a desease at all. Well, it´s a possibility.
This cultural bias effect is a very interesting thing. The country of origin should play un important part in the formation of the personality of an individual right? The culture were we are raised and educated. I would be inclined to believe in that. However, if I consider my personal case, something went wrong. I was born in Brazil, and Brazilians are seen as happy and optimistic, to the point of insanity I would add, but that´s the way Brazilians are, always hopefull, even when perspectives for the future don´t seem bright, (as you can check on this LINK from The Economist). I think someone got my share of optimism.
Being heavy and sad would not go against my cultural identity if I was french. According to this other LINK, French people are taught to be gloomy. Amazing, huh? They have the best cuisine, great wines, haute couture, perfumes, the most beautiful language, and they will always have Paris, but they feel depressed because that´s the way French people are raised. An authentic French Paradox.
Well, I keep on trying to fight my gloominess and my heaviness. It´s a hard thing to do. One days are okay, others not, but I am seriously considering a séjour in Paris. I would love to be gloomy there. The only Paris I have at the moment is the one presented at a fantastic book. Paris seen from above. It´s called Above Paris: the aerial survey of Roger Henrard by Jean-Louis Cohen. It´s a personal attempt to change my perspective, seeing things from a different side. Coming from a person that tends to look down most of the time, it´s a good start.
According to Wikipedia, Dysthymia is a mood disorder consisting of the same cognitive and physical problems as in depression, with less severe but long-lasting symptoms. And this term was coined by Dr. Robert Spizter as a replacement for depressive personality.
And all that came to me while I was reading an article about how cultural aspects can influence in the identification and definition of mental illlnesses (HERE). It starts with a discussion over the latest DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder), and the main point is whether the DSM Comittee is not expanding the categories of mental illnesses too much, creating a "diagnostic inflation" . I don´t know, and I can´t tell, but I always believed that the number of trully sane people has to be very low. Anyway, the point I wanted to highlight was that there´s a discussion on whether cultural aspects may affect on diagnosis, and there are researchers that do believe depression is a western-culture bound syndrome, since there´s not a consensus in psychiatry on either the definition or the symptons of the illness. In addition to that, no discrete genetic variation could be linked to depression up to the present moment. There seems to be an overlap accrosss a range of mental illnesses. So, according to them, maybe what we call depression in our western cultures is not seen as such in the east, or maybe it´s not considered to be a desease at all. Well, it´s a possibility.
This cultural bias effect is a very interesting thing. The country of origin should play un important part in the formation of the personality of an individual right? The culture were we are raised and educated. I would be inclined to believe in that. However, if I consider my personal case, something went wrong. I was born in Brazil, and Brazilians are seen as happy and optimistic, to the point of insanity I would add, but that´s the way Brazilians are, always hopefull, even when perspectives for the future don´t seem bright, (as you can check on this LINK from The Economist). I think someone got my share of optimism.
Being heavy and sad would not go against my cultural identity if I was french. According to this other LINK, French people are taught to be gloomy. Amazing, huh? They have the best cuisine, great wines, haute couture, perfumes, the most beautiful language, and they will always have Paris, but they feel depressed because that´s the way French people are raised. An authentic French Paradox.
Well, I keep on trying to fight my gloominess and my heaviness. It´s a hard thing to do. One days are okay, others not, but I am seriously considering a séjour in Paris. I would love to be gloomy there. The only Paris I have at the moment is the one presented at a fantastic book. Paris seen from above. It´s called Above Paris: the aerial survey of Roger Henrard by Jean-Louis Cohen. It´s a personal attempt to change my perspective, seeing things from a different side. Coming from a person that tends to look down most of the time, it´s a good start.
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