The Taboos of the Informed
The modern world is educated, well informed and devoid of superstition. Science has unraveled those mysteries which were unsolved and were once a part of mythology. The unexplained phenomena were once labelled as supernatural or superstition; but advancement in education and discovery have lifted the veil from everything unseen. Life has become faster with emerging trends: there are more activities and hobbies than a twenty-four-hour clock can sustain. Therefore, the days have taken wings and are flying with the pace of hours, hours are passing with the pace of minutes and minutes are passing as moments. Life is too fast…
People have professional life, social life, online life, personal life and so on…one person may have dual identities just to conform to the societal norms. In doing so, the humans commit this mistake of forgetting their real selves in the mist of unconscious. The hidden part of ice-berg is a reality which keeps on accommodating the unexpressed feelings and sometimes emerge as a sudden outburst of hysteria, trauma, or phobias.
The world acknowledges physical ailments as normal and acceptable. A person facing any problem visits a doctor without any hesitation, however, going to a psychiatrist or psychologist if your mental health is not intact, sounds quite absurd and abnormal. Visiting a psychologist for a therapy would be the last possible option for a person. As there are so many taboos associated with it. People tend to label a person who seeks help from a psychologist as “insane” or “psychotic”. Such people who go to psychologists are never treated like normal people. They are treated in a special manner, which is “biased”.
The dilemma of the privileged modern generation is; the pressures of society are manifold which can be fulfilled with a lot of difficulty. The stress drags a person towards insanity or mental instability which can be detrimental to his physical wellbeing too. People under stress take up drugs, smoking, or anti-depressants, without proper medical advice. Although most of the problems could be cured by just going to a psychologist for counseling sessions, but psychotherapy is considered as one of the taboos of the informed.
Being educated and well-informed had to be the other way round: be more open and receptive to change. Sadly, it is not so. The modern era has its own definition of normal and abnormal. People tend to believe in reputation, which is earned with great difficulty. Any damage to reputation can cause the whole lifelong achievement to collapse. Furthermore, crossing the boundary of the normal and going towards abnormal can be quite a news which can spread in no time on social media. People seeking psychologist’s help are treated as someone not belonging to their family. As psychological ailments are traced back to ancestral history. Most of the psychological issues are genetic. Therefore, family members shy away rather than being linked to such a background.
The ancient time was more meaningful in a way that psychological illnesses were connected to paranormal activity which had acceptance and had a firm origin. Whereas, nowadays, the belief in paranormal or supernatural has gone. People tend to be more logical but, in an attempt, to sound more logical and sane, they move far away from sanity. The chains and shackles of modern era are manifold. The taboos from which we got free have been replaced by newer more complicated ones. The difference is just in their labels. The taboos of ancient world were discarded on the grounds of being obsolete whereas the taboos of modern day cannot be termed as obsolete as it is not so. Humans have invented newer concepts and in doing so, they devised more severe and new chains for themselves too, in which they bind themselves willingly.
A jerk can remove all this strain from the minds of people, but that jerk would be too difficult. It would require too much effort and energy which a courageous and devoted person can achieve. The taboos of modern world can be lifted like a curse is lifted, by a miraculous effort.
IGCSE-I
Marble Arch Campus, Mardan