Moving up the ladder of mental illness

ANNA MARIA MORA

In the mid-1900s the main concern of psychiatrists was describing and classifying mental and nervous illness, putting them in categories. Persons who were “classified” were sent away to “madhouses” or locked away in dark rooms, with food being slipped through a little space in the door. Some were tied to beds. There were padded walls, so that those who kept butting or fighting walls did not harm themselves. Yes, there were also straitjackets and handcuffs.

In those days mental illness was very difficult to understand. The unschooled, felt that they were possessed by the devil and attempts were made to beat the devil out of them. The mentally ill who roamed the streets scorned. Then, Sigmund Freud, the father of modern day psychology examined the environment in which he operated, and found that putting these people away like this, workers to feed and give them medication. He said that this was a huge financial burden to the state. Then, he began to investigate the individual, and not the categories. He detailed how personality develops and behaviour problems emerge. He introduced the field of psychology, which paid attention to the intense study of the individual case. He also found that the relationship between the individual and therapist was extremelyimportant in the process of bringing some measure of healing to the individual.

How does the culture of TT treat with mental illness? We have a very recent and painful example of how we treat with it. This is one of the many examples of societal wrongs hiding in plain sight in our communities. Are we still in the 1900s?

Freud also looked at culture and the role it plays in the nurturing of conscience. I echo our 2019 recipient of the Order of the Republic of TT (ORTT) Dr Hollis Liverpool when he said, “I am all for calypso and culture in schools.” All those rushing to publish the text books, please be aware of the fact that culture nurtures conscience. What will be the content of the calypso and culture curriculum in our schools? Will the curriculum help our children to develop a caring, empathic, discerning ability to sift through the aspects of our culture which builds a character of dignity and integrity, and not just builds their bank account? Will we be giving them what they want – bacchanal in all its forms?

Children are born into a way of life. This culture is their way of life: what they eat, how they speak, dress, behave, their values, attitudes and beliefs. This way of life is prescribed to them from birth. Culture nurtures the presence of a conscience or the absence of it. If we say that our children have no conscience, it means that the culture into which they are born is not providing them with the “positive prescriptions” or the “prohibitions” they need to nurture their sense of what needs to be done to maintain order in their lives and in society.

Freud was very clear about this. Conscience is defined as the ability to review one’s conduct, motives or character or to develop and improve the mind through education and training. When the conscience is nurtured, another definition of culture emerges. This definition speaks to the quality of a person or society.

Today, we now have subcultures: the drug culture, the gun culture, calypso/carnival culture, corporate culture, the culture of diversity, and popular culture, all part of the macro-culture. Our children must have the tools which will assist them to make wise choices for their future and become productive and caring citizens. Will we use our calypso to teach and nurture the conscience? There is also an adult mind-set that continues to feed the attitude of our society which exonerates adults from accepting responsibility for children’s behaviour. Adults say: “We make children, but we do not make their minds.” They refuse to accept that if our children have “no conscience” it is because adults who have the responsibility for creating the nurturing environment, in which children will thrive and become mentally-healthy, are not living up to their responsibility.

Of interest, here is that part of our ‘Carnival culture’ which expands and prepares maternity wards in our hospitals to receive mothers and accommodate babies that are born nine months after Carnival. Will our calypso/carnival curriculum help to nurture mentally – healthy children, who grow up to be responsible teenagers and young people developing a strength of character and provide our society with a solid foundation for future development.

Another statistic of interest here must be that TT on third rung of the ladder in mental illnesses in the Caribbean region. Will this attempt to right some societal wrongs dig deep down and peel away all those layers of self-interest and partisanship and really get to the nitty gritty of what must be done.

The TT Association of Psychologists (TTAP) continues to plead for a national psychological trauma centre, which will go a long way in helping to prevent our society from moving up the ladder from the third rung on the ladder to the first rung, leading the Caribbean, with a society that is ravaged by citizens with mental illnesses.