Nation’s Mental Health Deteriorating:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:

The country’s mental health is deteriorating, according to a leading psychiatrist, who was the special guest on the JCN TV/Love 97 flagship programme “Jones and Company”, which aired on Sunday.

Dr. Timothy Barrett said that 12 years ago, he postulated that the country was going to have a significant rise in the number of people experiencing acute stress disorder, which is a psychiatric disorder related to psychological trauma and post traumatic stress disorder.

He said as a people, Bahamians are becoming more stressed.

On a scale of one to 10, he rated the level of tension in The Bahamas 30 years ago at two.

"…To get to eight, you would need a psychological trauma that would equal six. I am postulating – and I did so at that time – that the background level is about five. So you see, now you only need a stressor of three to cause significant problems, to cause people to have significant emotional and psychological problems," Dr. Barrett said.

He said post traumatic stress disorder is an emerging Bahamian epidemic.

The number of people who present themselves for treatment for mental disorders is more than doubled what it was 12 years ago, Dr. Barrett added.

"We are still in a mindset where we have a tremendous stigma that is associated with mental and emotional disorders, so nobody really wants to go to the psychiatrist, but some people say ‘I just had to come’. I’ve been suffering for this a year and a half, two years," he said.

The show’s host, Wendall Jones, noted that economically The Bahamas is doing much better than it was many years ago, and he questioned whether this economic success was translating into happier Bahamians.

"I think one of the issues we must face and we must do so carefully is that there are so many examples around the world of individuals with a whole lot of money who are not happy," Dr. Barrett responded. "So let’s not say because you have more money you’re happy."

He added, "We’re so used to getting things and getting what we want that we keep wanting more. How can our supply keep up with our demand? Impossible. So we’re always in this state of not having enough because we worship mammon and when you worship mammon you’ll suffer the consequences of worshiping mammon because material things lead to greed, avarice, envy and strife. That’s what happens. This is a reality."

In discussing the social state of the country, Dr. Barrett also declared, "We’re becoming uncivilized as a people…Maybe we haven’t had a character building experience in our history recently. The living is too easy."

Mr. Jones wondered whether some of the young men being taken before the courts and charged with serious crimes were "crazy".

But Dr. Barrett suggested that few of them probably have some kind of mental illness.

"A lot of them do what I call very crazy things…I’m not talking mental illness," he said.

Dr. Barrett said for the most part, many of these young people are very poorly socialized.

"In fact, socialized so strongly in a negative way that it’s hard to get anything through that established foundation of poor socialization," he said.

"Most people are not mentally ill. There are few who have bona fide mental illness [after] having used drugs and abused drugs – but [violence] is hardly ever associated with psychiatric illness."

Despite the state of affairs, Dr. Barrett indicated that he has not given up hope that the social and mental state of the Bahamian society could improve.

"Things seem to be going downwards," he said, "but I realize in history things have been going through cycles, so maybe this is the downward cycle in relation to what we’re experiencing in The Bahamas."

23 July 2007