Reading the small script

Jordanians are less reluctant to visit psychiatrists now than they were a few years ago, according to some Jordanian psychiatric consultants, mainly due to better awareness and a change in the way people perceive these specialists.

Figures give an idea of the kind of mental problems some Jordanians suffer from — the highest number, around 25 per cent, of depression, but also panic attacks, anxiety, ADHD and bipolar disorders — but they also give some alarming reasons for the problems, and these should not be taken lightly.

If political and economic circumstances are to blame for some cases, and pressure and hormonal changes can be blamed for the higher rates of depression among women, statistics show that mental illnesses are more likely to be found among people between the ages of 15 and 40 and suicides are more common among people aged between 20 and 40.

While it is easy to ignore these figures buried in the bulk of specialised literature, they should give serious reason for worry.

If young people do not feel confident and financially stable, if they, as one psychiatrist put it, “are under a lot of pressure these days. They have more complicated emotional issues”, it is because they are often unemployed and uninvolved in the affairs of the country.

When young graduates — often with two master or PhD degrees — cannot find a job or work for a measly salary and still depend on the family to help, when youth outside west Amman have nothing to employ their free time, not a club, not a gym, not a stadium, not a cinema hall, it is no wonder that they get “depressed”.

Depression can lead to “dangerous consequences”, we are warned. And when the social fabric is unravelled, when the extended family that often functioned as a safety net is incapable of acting as such anymore, due to the same problems, the danger could increase manifold, becoming a threat not only to the sufferers of “depression” but to the society at large.

Serious medical cases apart, the large portion of citizens who could be spared the worry, and thus the “depression”, should be helped.

Jordan is fortunately secure in a region in turmoil. While the entire country worries about the spillover effect of the wars around, we can still lead a normal life. Or should. But for that, a strong economy and employment opportunities have to be secured.

People have the right to lead normal and healthy lives and must be supported to avoid wasting them.

All stakeholders should look at the figures carefully and work to make them go down substantially, if not entirely.