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One of the most popular topics these days on social media is those related to mental health. Not only on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, which has passed us regarding ten days ago, but also in general, and even without occasions.
This issue is now being raised and discussed in Lebanon and the Arab world without taboos, following it was surrounded by shame and obscurity for a long time, and its owners were living in fear or shame of revealing their struggle so as not to be labeled “crazy”, given the prejudices that people used to call those who suffer problems in this regard. For this reason, this sudden change in mentality, and this new comfort in talking regarding a subject of this sensitivity and importance, reassure me, because they are an indication of our maturity as peoples, and our acceptance of the fragility that exists in each of us without exception.
I’m not claiming that the stigma is gone: unfortunately we are still a long way from that, and there is a great deal of ignorance, cynicism and denial at this level, but we are in the right direction. I still remember ten or fifteen years ago, how, whenever I mentioned my depression in one of my books or interviews, I was described as “courageous” and “bold”. But personally I did not regard it as neither boldness nor courage, but rather a mere desire to understand, and especially a desire to understand, emanating from a place where I had long felt mortally lonely and with so much pain: I mean, to make strangers understand what this world of depression is, and its challenges, in order to correct some fallacies around it.
The most serious fallacies in the issue of mental health? That people often confuse external behavior with psychological condition, when these two are often quite separate. I am, for example, positive in nature, I have a very high sense of humor, I smile spontaneously and laugh my heart out. Also, I am very social, friendly and dynamic. But, at the same time, I suffer from depression. Many people like me suffer from it, because depression is not synonymous with sadness, sullenness and laziness. It is more dangerous and cunning. Few realize this.
Finally, salute to all those who fight their inner demons, openly or in the dark, victorious at times and defeated at times. These are my words today, to say: You are not alone.