1 in 10 people in Turkey use antidepressants!
Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz drew attention to the rate of depression in the society and added: The biggest symptom of depression is hopelessness. Despite everything, we have to keep our hopes alive. We have to find a cure for this...
Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz, a psychiatry specialist who graduated from Anadolu University Faculty of Medicine in 1984, completed her doctorate in adult psychiatry in 1991, worked as a psychiatry specialist, associate professor, clinical chief and finally AMATEM director at Ankara Numune Hospital between 1991-2004, has been heading the Addiction Center at Üsküdar University NPİstanbul Brain Hospital since 2012. We met with Dilbaz, who is in Ankara on certain days of the week, on the day she was in Istanbul and talked about everything from public mental health to youth substance abuse.
HOSPITALS ARE FULL
Doesn't the rush between Ankara and Istanbul tire you out?
People who do what they love never get tired. I love my profession very much. When I help people in my profession, I also help myself in a sense. The brain of the person who helps is much more vigorous and happy. I am in Istanbul one day a week and in Ankara the other days.
One out of every 10 people in Turkey uses antidepressants and the occupancy rate in our mental health hospitals has reached 100 percent... What do you say, the picture does not look good...
When we look at the prevalence of mental illnesses in the world, the rates do not change much. Depression is seen in 20-25 percent of women and 8-10 percent of men. Of course, it is stress that triggers depression and brings society to this state. I am talking about stresses that strain the mind and body.
For example...
For example, noise is stress. Early retirement, loss of money, emigration, unemployment and others. The biggest symptom of depression is hopelessness. Fear of earthquakes, war and terrorism, violence against women, abuse of children, climate change, the world's reaction to concrete. These are conditions that affect us all negatively. Despite everything, we have to keep our hopes alive. Our brilliant young people are going abroad, there is an extraordinary brain drain. If we cannot nurture the hopes of a young person here, they start looking elsewhere. We need to find a solution to this.
WE ARE READY FOR EXCUSES
How can we prevent this?
For example, the first person I worked with was Süleyman Demirel, God rest his soul, during his presidency. In 1995, he summoned me and the Governor of Ankara. It was the issue of youth substance abuse. This was the first step in the establishment of the Ankara AMATEM. I was very impressed by one of Demirel's words: 'Don't tell me what can't be done, tell me how it can be done.' Our brains are already ready to make excuses.
Antidepressant use has increased...
Some doctors can easily add antidepressants to the prescription they write to their patients even though they are not their specialty. However, this is very wrong. This should be decided by a psychiatrist.
Another danger has taken the place of bonsai: Methamphetamine
What about substance abuse...
Insecurity in oneself, others and the future can of course create dangers in terms of substance abuse. We are not guiding young people well.
Bonzai use is very widespread...
If you want to sabotage the future of a country, it is enough to poison its youth with drugs. What we call bonsai is synthetic marijuana and is very harmful. It is absolutely addictive and causes schizophrenia. We started to see people using bonsai in the emergency rooms of hospitals. This is a great danger, but now a new one has come out. Its name is methamphetamine... This is a substance produced under the stairs in our country, addictive at an incredible speed and sold cheaply. It literally rots the human body. It is a great danger. Schools will open soon and we need to protect our children very well. Schools are the first target of drug dealers.
What is the role of the state?
The duties of the state are of course very important. However, I would like to underline one issue. There is a research conducted by the European Union countries every 4 years on substance addiction among 16-year-old high school students. Which substance young people use more, why they use it, their family structures, etc. are investigated. In 2004, Turkey did this, but 13 years later, we have not conducted this research again.
Why?
Sir, asking young people the questions related to this research means predicting that these children will use drugs. Can such a thing be possible! When I give information about tuberculosis to these young people, am I predicting that these children will get tuberculosis? Of course not... If we are going to fight against substance abuse, we must know what we are fighting against. We need to know the characteristics of the target group. It cannot be done by holding conferences in schools.
We have a problem with anger management as a country!
What should we do for the mental health of our people?
In order to protect our mental health, the conditions that will make our people's lives valuable and improve their quality of life should be increased. Triggering factors such as stress, migration, trauma and war must be reduced. It is also important to develop a positive view of the environment and to raise awareness through accurate reporting in the media.
Why is there violence against women, what is at the root of it?
Who perpetrates violence against women, men... And who raises that man, another woman... There is a vicious circle. This is our upbringing. It is still believed that the male child has privileges in the family. In marriage, he tries to oppress and beat his wife.
Violence is on the rise in all segments of society...
Violence in traffic, violence in stadiums, violence in entertainment, violence at weddings, violence in hospitals, violence in the family...
Why is there so much violence?
Because our people are incredibly angry. We have a great problem in controlling anger as a country. When we get angry with someone, including our politicians, we immediately raise our voices. Everyone thinks they are being wronged. This brings distrust. No one trusts anyone in society. We live in anger because we think we are constantly being wronged. Then, with a tiny trigger, this anger can instantly turn into violence.
How can we prevent this mistrust and violence?
First of all, we have to give up 'I' and say 'we', we have to think like that. We have to stop blaming each other. Look, watch the open debates on TV and see the reality of the country. All the people there are educated, they have academic careers. But they don't listen to each other. I wish we could listen to each other.
HELP, BE HAPPY
Can you give us the formula for happiness?
If I found the formula for happiness, I would be the richest person in the world and I would get the biggest prize. Although it is different for everyone, I can describe happiness as follows. There is everything in life and we should accept it. If we eat baklava every day, if we don't know the taste of sour and salty, dessert may not mean anything to us after a while. This is how we should accept life. Being happy does not mean that we are never bored, never sad, never cry. We can be happy if we can cope with all these things in the turbulence of life and feel that life is worth living. For me, the day we start doing something for others is the first step to happiness.