The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

ACCORDING to Medline Plus, an online service of the US Library of Medicine, "mental health is how we think, feel and act as we cope with life. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Like physical health, mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Staying mentally healthy is not always easy, especially during tough times".

Judging from this definition, an obscure observer can make conclusions as to the current mental state of some Bahamians at large. I consider myself an above average observer and as such I have formed my own conclusions.

Many Bahamians think that our country is headed and has been heading in the wrong direction for decades. Many Bahamians do not feel that they get a fair share of the economic pie and some of us act out by robbing our neighbour, stealing by reason of employment or breaking most of our country's laws.

We develop stress as a result of long traffic lines and this causes some of us to experience road rage and this is manifested in our reckless driving.

The Surgeon General's Report of Mental Health defines mental disorders as "health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning."

Referring to this definition from the surgeon general in the United States, the Bahamas appears to be faced with a problem that scientifically has been unaddressed and this could provide answers to the many degrading attitudes of some of our youth and parents.

In the Bahamas, any person who goes to the doctor for a talk with a psychiatrist is looked upon as someone who is "crazy". We would make jokes that that person has been to the "crazy hill" and this person would be the object of much laughter. The irony in my view is that many Bahamians are suffering from the loss of a family member, traumatised from being robbed or from just the daily stresses in life. It is still taboo for us to seek out help because we would be looked upon as someone who is weak. A person who makes a visit to the psychiatric ward in the "Crazy Hill" in Fox Hill will never live this down in the Bahamas. Trust me.

The politics in the Bahamas has remained unchanged over the last 25 years. Every election the governing party paves the roads, give out government jobs, award contracts to cronies, make wild promises and host first rate parties that electrify the electorate. The opposition also makes promises and executes parties deserving of Cacique Awards.

The attendants at these parties seem to be engulfed in a "shock wave" and tend to forget the hardships that they suffered in the previous five years. I have seen members of parliament get elected year after year despite their wretched performance. This is why I have concluded that a lot of Bahamians are suffering from mental disorders, some of them acute and severe.

It is time for us to revise our thought processes. One of the ways to revise our thought processes is to become informed on the issues ourselves. This election is very critical to our sustained economic and social health going forward and when Bahamians enter that voter's box, I pray to God that each of them is thinking clearly.

DEHAVILLAND MOSS

Nassau,

April 25, 2012.