A Mental Health Story in Hindsight & How This Bahrain-based platform is spreading awareness and love
In 2016, I got a call from one of my school teachers. She told me something that took me back in time. There was a boy who was refusing to go to school and his parents didn’t know what was wrong. My teacher asked me if I could speak to the boy’s mother and share my experience with her. This is what I told her.
When I was 11, I experienced what I believe was my first life crisis — I stopped going to school. Until then, I had been a regular, happy go lucky child who had many friends and got good grades. I remember making excuses to return home — one day it was stomach pain and another day fever. Initially, my teachers were confused and concerned as were my parents. Eventually, they saw through my act but wondered why a mature, straight-A student like me would do something like that.
Whenever I was asked, what’s wrong, I’d say, “I’m feeling something.” I could never define ‘something’ back then. In hindsight, it was anxiety; I have always been an anxious child despite being raised in a loving and supportive environment. I want to specify this because it’s important to know that mental disorders aren’t restricted to people with dysfunctional families and abusive surroundings. I do believe it’s got a lot to do with the individual. If we were to put two people in the same situation, they would react differently. People are different as are their defense mechanisms and approaches to life. There is no right and wrong. Just different.
I was diagnosed with ‘inferiority complex’ and administered anti-depressants. Thankfully, the right people crossed our path and we were able to treat the condition in the early stages. Though this incident is buried deep down in my heart, what I vividly remember is the reactions I got; my classmates thought I’d ‘gone mad’ and a few people who were praying for me thought I was ‘stubborn’ or ‘acting too much’, which shows a lack of awareness. In their defense, there were hardly any mental health care education initiatives and campaigns and back then and people seldom shared their experiences publicly. Today, we talk about these issues more openly than we used to before but there continues to be a lack of awareness.
Anxiety and Depression Association (ada:) is a digital platform started by Bahrain-based, Rukaya Al Zayani and Hajer Ghareeb to spread awareness and tackle the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. It also offers a safe communal space for collective healing and expression. “We educate people by blogging about topics such as intrusive thoughts and their effects and depression,” says Rukaya, adding that ada: also invites ‘submissions’, which they post anonymously — the idea is for readers to connect with others facing similar problems and know they’re not alone. While there are public and private facilities for psychiatric and psychological care on the island, Rukaya believes Bahrain lacks a suicide hotline and an NGO- or government-supported professional psychological platform. It’s important because it makes mental health care more accessible, which is the need of the hour given the lack of awareness and stigma surrounding mental illnesses. Says Rukaya, “I’ve observed that the younger generation is more open and outspoken about mental health. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there are many people who still believe that something like, say, depression can be healed by prayer alone.”
Rukaya hopes to set up an NGO supporting the cause someday but for now ada: is her focus. “We get approached by many people for suggestions and recommendations on psychiatrists and psychologists. We’ve also brainstormed future initiatives where people can participate including a support group meet-up that we can’t wait to start and host.”
