Osakatomebaby

I meant to tell you about this but now it's archived. Summary: until pharmaceutical companies started marketing the "cure" there was no concept of mild depression in Japan. Counselling and such are kind of experiencing a boom but the stigma here is still immense. Average hospitalization in the US for mental illness is 10 days. Average in Japan is over 300 days. Not sure exactly what that implies though.

The phrase the pharmaceutical companies are using to popularize the idea of mild depression is kokoro no kaze or "a cold of the heart". Anyway mild depression is a misnomer as well, insofar as people who are "mildly" depressed don't feel it's particularly "mild" or manageable, but at least it's distinguishable from bipolar or severe depression since both of those are clinically recognizable across cultures. Mild depression on the other hand has many manifestations and many "cures" from lifestyle changes to medication. (I don't mean to minimize it by saying "cures"...just that I tend to think we're still in the "leeches" phase of medical science regarding the brain).

So to misquote from one guy in the article (since it's no longer available), "Either my depression is worse than others' or their colds are worse than mine". He went on a retreat and fasted and that's worked for him, though he was still pro-pharmaceutical. Said that just worked for him.

Anyway I thought of the article again because I saw this ad for counselling in the subway the other day. It's hard to make out...didn't have my good camera...but maybe you can see. There's a doctor putting a stethascope to a immense tumor (yes that's a tumor) protruding from the back of sad-looking and very emaciated man dressed a little like an Indian mendicant.



I dunno, it's tongue-in-cheek. I kind of like it...