Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
transcription of Sami Pirkola lecture on 10.08.06
Sami Pirkola is a psychiatrist, a researcher and a epidemiologist working in MERTTU -project, Mental Health Group within STAKES (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health). He accepted to give a lecture about some depression statistics from Finland and other countries. Following there is the transcription of the lecture, which was based on a PowerPoint presentation that we are going to post as soon as we would figure out if would there be any way to attach a pdf file.
Thank you, Mireia for inviting me to take part in this project. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future but, anyway, I find this whole idea interesting and that’s why actually I took your call seriously and thought about coming here.
I don’t know anyone of you and I don’t know who are you representing but I don't expect anybody of you as any professional working in the mental scene, I guess.
Mental health: we only have some ideas about what it is and actually any technician is writing about it. Here we see something from the WHO (World Health Organization), which is a general conceptualization about what is mental health. This kind of definition tries to get all the important things in it and tries to define what the general core of mental health is. We can think that mental health is a state of well being. And in such a way, that any individual can perhaps cope and enjoy his or her life. Usually we think that people can work, love and be a bit creative. That’s a kind of a minimum demand for people to somehow function.
And well, it's quite complex to conceptualize this, but anyway it is good to understand that mental health is a very broad concept, that doesn’t have only to do with small symptoms and that is also affecting our whole environment.
-I will show you that in a minute. We have done a couple of very good studies with big populations. And actually all around the world there have been quite many studies. People have been taken and have been interviewed. And this is what has been made. But you will see. It is something about where is a mental disorder. Almost a third of the population, 28% per year, suffers from some kind of mental disorders, but only 8% actually has diagnosis under treatment and a 20%, a fifth of us, has some kind of disorders that are not treated. And at the same time 7% of people have some kind of treatment without having a kind of mental disorder.
It’s quite easy to understand. Mental disorders are a definition, a certain criteria. But one can still have some suffering without being a clear mental disorder that can’t be treated or helped in some way. And at the same time many of these disorders don’t necessarily need immediate treatment. They can get cured by themselves.
-Is a kind of syndrome when one is absolutely phobic about social situations; gets typical panics like attacks and… I can’t explain in detail but one can’t attend to typical social situations and it causes suffering and disability.
-Well, they are different but they are quite near. The symptoms are quite the same, but social phobia are triggered by social situations. Panic symptoms come out form the blue with no triggers and so on.
-I would like to ask how these 6005 people were contacted to make the tests and if were they paid.
-That’s a very good question. We look for a representative population for this kind of study, so we actually selected them from the national census register. A letter was sent to them and as well they received a phone call. And the Finnish people are quite well known for their willingness of participating. Finnish people, let’s say, trust researchers and authorities. So we got quite a nice participating response.
-So they did they get remunerated only for the trip?
-Yes, often they had to negotiate with their employers and usually that was ok. And as a kind of salary they got some blood test and other health information and so on, some kind of feedback.
Actually 8000 were selected and 6005 were participating. To conclude our results, most of them represented the general population in
In terms of vital index, the higher the better. And we were the winners again.
But I don’t take all this too serious, but it is a nice addition to this Finns being depressive discussion. But something not surprising happened with the social support. If we look at the strong column, we were the worst in reporting getting strong social support. It could be that we conceptualize social support differently. And in this we lost if we want to, somehow, compete with the other figures.
Recent
-Yes, there is a gap. It is a very difficult question. Depression is not the only suicide risk. It is also this substance abuse problem, this kind of specific changes we have in society and some others. We do not have one answer. I am not saying that Finnish are less depressive, as I would not rely on these Eurobarometer results. What I am saying is that there are not major differences between the countries and that Finnish people absolutely are no more depressive than other Europeans, but probably we are in the same level about than the others.
-There are to dates. The last one was facilitated by EU. In
Thursday, August 17, 2006
code dictionary
Finally we decided that instead of doing a protest, we will publish a book that is going to be something like a code dictionary.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Finland has the most vital rate!!
Finns are not more depressive than other Europeans.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
What part of me is genetically Finnish and what I learned socially by growing up in America
I was born in North Carolina, USA to Finnish parents. My parents moved to the States from Helsinki because of my father’s career when my older sister was a 2-year old in the 1970’s. They ended up staying in the country longer than expected, and continue to live there to this day.
I learned Finnish through hearing my parents speak to one another and from occasional meetings with our relatives. We would travel to Finland on summer holidays every few years to see family. But as soon as I entered school, English language took over my speech.
I was a very ‘Finnish’ child. I was shy and refused to smile to strangers or to a camera. This was a bit hard to explain to inquisitive Americans; people would often ask my mom if I was ill or upset. In school I was very shy and socially, I bloomed comparatively late to my American classmates. I was considered anti-social perhaps. I was also very close to my parents and maybe subconsciously preferred their behavior and demeanor. My older sister, on the other hand, had a sort of different experience with her American childhood. Perhaps because she came to the States as a 2-year old Finnish child, or because of personality differences in us, she really wanted to fit in with the ways of the American kids, in order to survive those years. She has much more embraced American culture than I.
Growing up, I was always stubbornly myself, and a true introvert. It wasn’t until I separated from home, went to University, and made new friends, who, maybe being of a higher maturity level could understand that a shy person, like myself at the time, was worth getting to know. And then, in turn, I loosened up and learned from friends that it’s okay to be goofy and to hang out with people even in a sort of superficial way. Who cares; life is short anyway. I just blossomed from there and have had wonderful relationships since then. I lived in New York City, met and made friends with people from all over the globe. I’ve traveled a lot and often felt more at home in European cities than in the States.
I moved to Helsinki a year ago out of curiosity, convenience, and a result of being bored of NYC and USA-living altogether. This year has been revelatory for me in many ways. Now I really understand better that the reason for my anti-social behavior as a child, was because I am Finnish. I rejected the American social habits initially… but now, I have to say that I am really glad that I was raised in the States. Now, I almost reject the shyness here because I feel like I’m regressing back to that behavior that I got over as an adolescent. In another way, I really appreciate the familiarity that exists here among Finns… something I always missed in America and didn’t even know it. People there are raised to be social, always around others, and working in groups. It is almost looked down on to be alone there. I do feel much more at home here because naturally I choose to be alone often.
Also, although I live here now, I try to speak Finnish, and would like to have more Finnish friends, it seems that most of my friends are still foreigners. I feel like I can’t be completely my sort-of-goofy-American-self when speaking Finnish; somehow it just doesn’t translate. I’ve talked to other part-Finnish, part-foreign people with similar frustrations. I have these conversations everyday it seems. Generally, it takes a long time to be ‘warmed up’ and ‘accepted’ by Finns. My relatives here are the same way. It’s taken a long time to become a part of their very routine-driven lives. I find a lack of spontaneous warmth in Finland. There is a general guardedness that is somewhat suffocating… but in other ways you get used to it and start to go along with that behavior yourself. I think over time perhaps I will figure out how to overcome that barrier with people here. After all, I do understand it because I was always the same way, and sort of unapproachable.
My parents, also, have changed as a result of their time in America. Now, when they come to Finland, they of course love and appreciate it here, but feel a bit foreign to the social habits. I’ve observed that, unlike, my relatives here, my immediate family is much closer, more spontaneous, and laugh more. If we had stayed as a family in Finland, I’m very sure that I would still be very shy and reserved.
There is very little room for social behavior change here. I notice it slowly changing though, as more foreigners visit and move here, and also as Finns move and travel abroad. Most Finns who have lived elsewhere, I’ve noticed, are a bit different.
All cultures have their own social habits. Some cultures, like Finland, have culturally been more isolated and therefore, slower to grow and change. I think all of this is a combination of genetic, environmental, and historic elements. I still can’t say for sure… but I’m sure there’s something in out genes…
9.8.06
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Sinisyys...
Summer makes us come out like flowers, happy and free. Wintertime is another story; it is a much bigger challange to show a happy face when its cold, wet and windy. Lack of sunlight and vitamin D makes us tired. Winter is more introvert time, summer is extrovert. Perhaps that’s the way, we follow the nature. Perhaps that makes us natural.
I think that the Finnish history under the rule of
The last generations lived the war and famin and it was not that long ago. Things have changed so fast, that our souls have had a hard time catching up. Pace is fast and as we try to keep up, we have forgotten to live. Forgotten that life is for living and not for serving technology and money and more and more. Our souls need feeding, as without if dries. It’s fine as long as you keep running after more, when nothing is enough, we are never enough. But if you stop, or more often if and when life makes you stop, you can see your soul a size of a rasin, where do you stand? What else can follow but depression...
I was angry whis my society and blamed it for demanding so much of young men. Get a good and accepted education and job, or you are not worthy. I guess he was in a dark tunnel where he saw no light at the end of it. I declared war against Finnland and left abroad for many years. One day I had to return to dig deeper into the roots, to try to understand.
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Sunday, August 06, 2006
Two Finns in Tokyo
people at almost their 30´s still live with their parents.
Masakis parents were extremely nice and hospital. They took us to see nice places, offered us lovely meals and even gave us some small presents. We tried our best to show how gratefull we are. They didn´t understand that much english but they knew words like "thank you" for
sure. We learnt some japanese words. We knew for example how to say that the food is delicious. Because of the lack of the words we tried to use more body language that we normally do in Finland. I was smiling all the time so much that my cheeks were hurting.It almost felt like faking.
After a week or so Masaki told us that he had had serious conversation with his parents. They wanted to know what is wrong with me and my friend. Why are we unhappy? Are we home sick? Masaki told us that he had tried to tell his parents even before we arrived about he´s
experiences about finns and how we differ from japanese. Still they were sure that we are not having good time at all and we are unhappy.
I'm still wondering what in our behaviour make them to missundertand us so totally.
Kaisa Kontio
More documents about Menthal Health in the European Union
Here are more documents showing that Finns are not more depressive or pessimistic about their lives than other Eueopeans. Why then, still, this cliché about Finns? Might it be a cultural misconception?
Kovess, V. and “The State of Mental Health in The European Union” collaborators. The State of Mental Health in the European Union. European Communities, 2004
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_projects/
2001/monitoring/fp_monitoring_2001_frep_06_en.pdf
The European Opinion Research Group. Eurobarometer 58.2: “The Mental Status of
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/health/
ph_determinants/life_style/mental_eurobaro.pdf
Finns do not suffer from depression more than other Europeans
pessimistic about their life than other Europeans.
You may wish to take a look at cross European data at: http://info.stakes.fi/mindful