head in the clouds iris chang's family is trying to dissipate the asian stigma against mental illness. i think they should cast the net wider - all sorts of sets of people have that stigma. you can't talk about it in this newsroom without certain writers laughing their heads off. i watch them and wonder if there's something they know that they're not telling.

some illnesses in the brain are caused by chemical imbalances that are easily cured by medicine - clinical depression is like that. depression is actually one of the most common illnesses around, as common as diabetes. bipolar disorder is another that can be controlled by medicine.

the stigma against mental illness hinders researchers from finding out how to cure more severe cases such as schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder.

the stigma is so strong and contradictory that ms. chang herself told her family not to tell anyone.

i think part of the stigma stems from that many cultures value intelligence above everything else. we all know the jokes -

sumobra na yata sa talino
she's crazy - depressed-like crazy
where the crazy haven did those ideas come from?

ah wells. i know i forget that the mind is just like the body in that it has limits. you break those limits, you end up hurt. already people aren't wanting to find out whether they're physically ill -

no, i don't have high cholesterol.
no, i don't have a caffein or smoking habit.
i'm all right.

what more something they can't see?  ¶ 3/07/2005 10:16:00 PM