One hears much noise in the media about India’s current growth trajectory and emerging status as a global player. Residing in India in retirement however, this has not impressed me much except for the increased traffic on the roads and increasing sensationalism in our media.
But now I am willing to sit up and take notice. India has indeed arrived in the global scene. According to a report from the WHO, India is now the most depressed place on earth. India recorded the highest rate of major depression in the world, at 36% . This compares very favourably with Europe and the USA with a little more than 30%, but we have beaten our rival China hollow which has only 12%.
And more satisfying is the fact that unlike in other fields, our women have beaten women from other countries hollow with the distinction of being the most stressed in the world too. 87% compared to the next highest, Mexico with 74%.
Congratulations India. I am very proud to be an Indian. Where is my Prozac?
I should note that the US has a lot of unemployed psychiatrists. This does sound very much like a reverse outsourcing opportunity.
Rummuser Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 17:09
Looney, trust you to come up with out of the box ideas. I shall spread the word around. My heart bleeds for those unemployed shrinks.
Looney Reply:
July 29th, 2011 at 09:44
Ramana, I finally tried out the toothpaste recommendation. It works wonders. Now I need a good explanation for why I got toothpaste dabbed here and there on my body.
Rummuser Reply:
July 31st, 2011 at 11:19
You can try telling them that it is to invite people to lick!
I think you could look at this in a different way. Perhaps India just has more people who seek help for their depression. Maybe the rest of the world just stays home and wallows in despair. Seems to me that this is a hard statistic to come up with.
Rummuser Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 17:08
Delirious, I despair for the surveyors. If they had shown an increase or decrease over an existing condition, it would have made sense. When the country is peopled mostly by those who do not have the time or the resources to be depressed, what is the point of this inane survey? It is just to keep some pen pushing bureaucrat in the UN busy.
Rummuser Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 17:05
You are always welcome. I don’t think that your spirits ever need to get higher than they already are.
I blame America. Mark my words, the fault comes from America. Over there everyone lives like this. We see it everyday on TV and at the Movies!
Rummuser Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 17:04
I agree. I could however be totally stress free and live there only if some rich widow agrees to take me as a partner to drive her around in one of those golf carts, which should not be too much labour for the benefits in return.
I take this sort of statistic with a pinch of salt. Presumably it’s based on self-reporting, i.e. what people tell the interviewer, and there is no way of checking that what they say is correct. People may say they’re often depressed when all they really mean is that life gets them down sometimes.
Rummuser Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 17:03
I take all survey reports with a hand full of salt. In my days of being a marketing man of sorts, I could produce survey reports to justify preconceived decisions based on gut feel. And the worthies above me, did me great honour by accepting them as the Gospel.
I also read the depression report of WHO yesterday. it is only because of corruption and noneducational peoples. As you know India earn much money from taxes and other things but they cannot deliver this money right according to the rules. corruption is the main thing which makes people depressed and this high rating is also because of corruption, poverty and noneducational people. nice post to give awareness to the people of India to think about India.
In a roundabout way it could perhaps be gronds for optimism. Depression grounds for optimism? How so?
Well… because depression, or at least the reporting and giving attention to it, are symptomatic of a wealthier society. Poor people are too busy working to complain about depression. They may feel depressed, but also poor, hungry, cold, wet, exhausted, etc. So if depression is getting a look in, perhaps it’s a back-handed sign of development.
Unless India is managing to merely increase the load of misery rather than vary it.
But as for you, surely you should be reaching for your generic copy of Prozac rather than the expensive brand itself?
Rummuser Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 17:00
BWT, Recently India seems to be getting attention for all the wrong reasons and here is another instance. No one writes about the blogger from Pune with a peculiar world view. Surely that deserves attention? You have now made my life easier. I did not even know that there are generic alternatives to Prozac!
Who was it who said … “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics”… ? .. Probably someone who was feeling depressed at the time.
The most depressed place on earth?? That’s, well, a little depressing. Do you feel depressed, or do you think of this as just another statistic?
Statistics… I was not aware about these numbers and I am wondering about it now.
India has arrived. True! please suggest where? By the way I am an Indian too, the question to ask is – where are we going, where have we reached and where do we want to go? I am sure we didn’t want to be at a place which statistics is suggesting, hope numbers of WHO are incorrect.
Rummuser Reply:
August 5th, 2011 at 09:23
Sir, it is a post written with my tongue firmly in my cheek.