MANGGIS, BALI, INDONESIA-MAY 8 : Ketut, 33, sits in his room where he lives, chained for the past eight years May 8, 2012 in Manggis, Bali, Indonesia. Ketut is shackled by his own family in order to control him. They say that he has shown signs of a mental disorder for nine years but only took him to a ' Balian' which is a Balinese traditional healer. Currently, he is monitored by the Suryani Institute for Mental Health, a non-profit institute that cares for the mentally ill providing free medical and psychiatric treatment. The mental health institute works to get all of their patients released but in some cases the family creates more problems. Many poor families don't have money to pay for hospitalization or go to a doctor. Inside the spiritual Balinese society there is often a stigma and misinformation about mental illness. Some people feel that this is the work of the supernatural so their hope to solve the mental disorder is to let the traditional healer do his work. Bali has one government run mental hospital. Indonesia has a population of approximately 240 million people, the country has a shortage of psychiatrists and the health ministry spends 2.3 percent of the total national budget on health care. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)[/caption]During lunch again at the company's canteen, the topic was about the Canadian psycho whose victim's head was already found. The victim was a Chinese national.
I told my buddies that even here in the Philippines, the number of individuals with mental illnesses are growing. C* mentioned that the government has to give more attention to the mental health of the Filipinos other than the physical health. Mental health, according to him, influences the physical health of a person. To that I agree.
The discussion shifted to the early symptoms of depression. It continued when C* mentioned one symptom when a person cries alone. F* interjected that she was crying alone when she was in high school. I asked C* if he also cried alone and he replied that he didn't but instead laughed alone.
Now, the question is, I continued, who is more mentally ill - a person that cries or laughs alone? C* promptly answered it is the person who cries alone to which F* disagreed. :D
R* butted in and said that the person who cries alone has a lot of unhappy moments. F* contradicted saying that it is the one who laughs alone that has sad memories because he or she is laughing at misfortunes while the one who cries alone remembers the beautiful memories and regrets that they had slipped away. :D
Now, what do you think of this? Do you cry or laugh alone, and why?
As for me, I laugh alone more when I remember the funny things in this life. It is my way of laughing at my own mistakes that help me thrive, I guess.
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