Laura A. Munoz March 1, 2012 Prof.Jeremy Lignelli HUEN232D1
Navarro, Lygia. "Tropical Depression." The Virginia Quarterly Review Issue 85(2009): 26-30, 33-47
Abstract: In “Tropical Depression”, Lygia Navarro explains the denial of mental illness in Cuba by President Fidel Castro. It is in the hot month of August that many Cubans decide to give up on life and turn to suicide but it is even more surprising the statements made by professional doctors that contradict statistics recorded by the World’s Health Organization which clearly state the Cuba has one of the highest suicide rates among the Americas followed by the Republic of China. It was right after the fall of the Soviet Union that the island of Cuba fell into a great depression, which Fidel named “the Special Period in Times of peace”. The reason why so many Cubans turn to the termination of their own life is because the have become accustomed to levels of uncertainty and they remain highly traumatized by the socialist situation of Fidel’s regimen. The rates of the Suicides doubled it’s high rate in 1959, becoming the second cause of death for Cubans 15 years and older. The author points out the refutation of mental illness in Cuba and the use of illegal sedatives as meprobomare to treat certain symptoms of depression by interviewing a Cuban woman who struggles with depression herself and whose grandson recently committed suicide.
Laura A. Munoz March 1, 2012
ReplyDeleteProf.Jeremy Lignelli HUEN232D1
Navarro, Lygia. "Tropical Depression." The Virginia Quarterly Review Issue 85(2009): 26-30, 33-47
Abstract:
In “Tropical Depression”, Lygia Navarro explains the denial of mental illness in Cuba by President Fidel Castro. It is in the hot month of August that many Cubans decide to give up on life and turn to suicide but it is even more surprising the statements made by professional doctors that contradict statistics recorded by the World’s Health Organization which clearly state the Cuba has one of the highest suicide rates among the Americas followed by the Republic of China. It was right after the fall of the Soviet Union that the island of Cuba fell into a great depression, which Fidel named “the Special Period in Times of peace”. The reason why so many Cubans turn to the termination of their own life is because the have become accustomed to levels of uncertainty and they remain highly traumatized by the socialist situation of Fidel’s regimen. The rates of the Suicides doubled it’s high rate in 1959, becoming the second cause of death for Cubans 15 years and older. The author points out the refutation of mental illness in Cuba and the use of illegal sedatives as meprobomare to treat certain symptoms of depression by interviewing a Cuban woman who struggles with depression herself and whose grandson recently committed suicide.