Psychiatrists have figured out how to save the world from depression: grandma therapy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The World Health Organization is sounding the alarm - according to statistics, every forty seconds in the world, someone arbitrarily takes their own lives. The reason people take this step is depression. There are a great many reasons for falling into such a state: conflicts, a low standard of living, mental wounds, personal crises. One practicing psychiatrist has found a unique way to solve a problem where there are no qualified specialists, and even if there are, people do not have money for them and they cannot get help. This amazing method is so simple, obvious and accessible that it’s strange why professionals didn’t think of using it earlier.

Dixon Chibanda is an assistant professor at the University of Zimbabwe's Clinical Research Center and director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative. When Dixon was in graduate school, one student committed suicide. This simply turned the whole perception of the young doctor upside down, because that young man seemed quite happy from the outside. In fact, it turned out that he suffered from severe depression and even took medications for this condition.

Dixon began to reflect on how important it is to help such people in time so that they do not commit the irreparable. He delved into the problem for a long time, studied statistics. Chibanda delved into the stories of different people, consulted with fellow psychiatrists, communicated with relatives and friends. The decision came unexpectedly, after one tragic incident. The mother of one of his patients was unable to bring her daughter to him for the next session due to the banal lack of money for the trip. The desperate girl committed suicide.

After this story, Dixon realized that sitting in the hospital and waiting for patients for an appointment, he would not save even half of those in need. It suddenly dawned on the doctor. Grandmothers! There are grandmothers everywhere, in every region there are many of them! They have lived in this world and know life. Grandmothers have a lot of free time, colossal life experience and a great need to be needed by someone. And most importantly: grandmothers, like no one else, know how to listen.

Dixon developed a project called Friendship Benches. First, he announced the scale of the problem to the authorities in order to obtain the necessary funding for the implementation of this project. As is often the case, the government did not find money, people, or premises for this need. In 2007, the doctor decided to start translating his idea into reality, on his own. He started small: in the town of Mbare (Zimbabwe), Dixon began teaching 14 grandmothers.

These women have already worked in a similar way with people. Chibanda and his colleague Petra Mesu have developed a special therapy for problem solving techniques. With the help of the Friendship Benches, the grandmothers acquired official status.

Together with their grandmothers, psychiatrists invented such key terms as kuvhura pfungwa, which means "opening the mind", kusimudzira - "raising the spirit" and kusimbisa - "strengthening." These concepts formed the basis of the approach of the "Friendship Bench" project. At first, Dixon had to pay for everything out of his own pocket. But this therapy began to bear its first fruits and the Zimbabwean government allocated funding.

There are benches on the territory of the hospitals. At first, they were fenced, but after a while the fence was removed, as citizens are very positive about it. When people seek help, they fill out a questionnaire and are referred to non-professional psychiatrists - grandmothers. These grandmothers have taken special courses, and their activities are supervised by medical workers.

With each patient, the grandmothers conduct the first session in which they simply listen to the person pouring out his soul to them. It is important to establish emotional contact for this, which older women usually succeed. The session is recorded on a dictaphone. The recording is listened to by a professional to monitor the process. The grandmother, together with other participants in this program, analyzes the information and decides what to do next.

All patient data is computerized and secured. Patients are carefully monitored: if suddenly did not come to the session and did not call back, the grandmother, along with the paramedic, goes to his house. Of course, it was very difficult at times. There were financial disruptions. When Dixon ran out of funds and had nothing to pay for the work of unprofessional doctors of human souls, he thought that they would leave. But they stayed.

During the work of the project, Dixon tried to use older men, young women. But they did not succeed as well as the grandmothers. Of those first 14 who started in 2007, 11 are now alive and they still help people on their benches. Even Dixon's grandmother is involved in the project. When the grannies gathered to exchange information and experience, she suggested not to waste time, but … to knit bags! Grandmothers not only help their patients psychologically, they also teach them to knit. Thus, helping and solving material problems.

Of course, Dr. Dixon's approach has been criticized by some of his colleagues. Many people think that they just need to invest more money in the construction of mental hospitals. But it takes a long time and is very expensive. Chibanda believes his method can save many lives now. And it is true. Today, several Canadian organizations want Dixon to help them do something similar for them. The doctor believes that it is necessary to develop the administrative component of the project more carefully in order to be able to apply it all over the world.

The statistics of the results of clinical trials surpassed the expectations of even Dixon himself. Grandmothers were 36% more successful than professional psychiatrists! Grandma's therapy has cured hundreds of patients from all signs of depression. According to Dixon Chibanda's calculations, by 2050 there will be more than one and a half billion elderly women in the world, which means that there will be someone to implement and help people! like cancer in the name of holy marijuana: "nuns" grow hemp for sale.