Jin Yi
Met a girl going through a clinical depression Just met an American girl on my way to the pharmercy, she was planning to get some medicine too and shared with me her story about this medicine thing when she was in China last year: at 10pm in her hotel, she got a really bad headache and need some painkiller.She didn't know where and how to get it, even worse she couldn't speak any Chinese. Fortunately she met a girl passing by who could speak fluent English, helped her handle all the stuff. I told her: aren't you lucky?! You remind me my last time in K.S.A. We couldn't understand Arabic either, didn't have enough prescription knowledge to talk about in English, and no one could speak Chinese. We had to drive a very long way to somewhere like a little Chinatown and got what we wanted. Really far away from our place. The girl has a clinical depression and bought some ibuprofen, she took a long time to ask information about the medicine interaction for she also had this depression pills. She looks pretty and healthy, hard to believe it. Then a question really hits me. Do we Chinese under diagnose the depression? Or the Westerners over diagnose it? For I know so many Chinese people were going through this burnout, they had little to deal with it. Lack of social support, lack of medical awareness, really tough for them. So, what do you think? Pls kindly correct my impression errors. Thanks
Mar 29, 2015 3:03 AM
Corrections · 7
1

I met a girl going through clinical depression

Just met an American girl on my way to the pharmacy. She was planning to get some medicine and shared with me her story about this thing pertaining to medicine when she was in China last year: At 10pm in her hotel, she got a really bad headache and needed some painkiller. She didn't know where and how to get it. Even worse, she couldn't speak any Chinese. Fortunately she met a girl passing by who could speak fluent English, who helped her handle all the stuff. I told her, "aren't you lucky?! You remind me of my last time in K.S.A. We couldn't understand Arabic either, didn't have enough knowledge about the prescription to talk about it in English, and no one could speak Chinese. We had to drive a very long way to somewhere like a little Chinatown to get what we wanted. It was really far away from our place." 

The girl had clinical depression and bought some ibuprofen. She took a long time to ask for information about how the medicine might interact with the pills she was taking for depression. She looked pretty and healthy, It was hard to believe that she had depression. Then a question really hit me; do we Chinese under diagnose cases of depression, or do Westerners over diagnose it? For I know so many Chinese people who were going through burnout, they had little to time to deal with their symptoms of depression. Lack of social support and lack of medical awareness, makes it really tough for them. So, what do you think?

Pls kindly correct my impression errors. Thanks

March 30, 2015

Hello! There are only small errors in your writing. Good work!

 

Met a girl going through a clinical depression

I just met an American girl on my way to the pharmacy. she was planning to get some medicine too and shared with me her story about this medicine thing when she was in China last year: at 10pm in her hotel, she got a really bad headache and needed some painkiller.She didn't know where and how to get it, and even worse she couldn't speak any Chinese. Fortunately she met a girl passing by who could speak fluent English, helped her handle all the stuff  everything. I told her: aren't you lucky?! You remind me my last time in K.S.A. We couldn't understand Arabic either, didn't have enough prescription knowledge to talk about in English, and no one could speak Chinese. We had to drive a very long way to somewhere like a little Chinatown and got to get what we wanted. It was really far away from our place.

The girl has a clinical depression and bought some ibuprofen, she took a long time to ask information about the medicine interaction for she also had this depression pills. She looks pretty and healthy, hard to believe it. Then a question really hits me. Do we Chinese under diagnose the depression? Or the do Westerners over diagnose it? For I know so many Chinese people were going through this burnout, but they had little few ways to deal with it. There is Lack of social support, lack of medical awareness, so it is really tough for them. So, what do you think?

Pls kindly correct my impression errors. Thanks

 

 

With regards to your question about diagnosis of depression in the two countries: I think it is some of both. My experience in China was that mental issues like depression are heavily stigmatized and there is not much access to mental healthcare. Because of this, many mental health problems may go undiagnosed in China. However, the U.S. may have a slightly different problem; anyone with even a mild form of depression may be counseled to take drugs to treat their mental illness. But, the bottom line is there is a much stronger awareness of depression in the U.S. We understand that mental illness is not always something you can see; many people live with it and function like normal people. I think this kind of awareness is a good thing, but it doesn't mean things like depression are always dealt with in the right way.

 

 

March 29, 2015

Met a girl suffering from  clinical depression

Just met an American girl on my way to the pharmacy who was planning to get some medicine too and shared with me her story about getting medicine when she was in China last year: at 10pm in her hotel, she got a really bad headache and need some painkiller.She didn't know where or how to get it; even worse she couldn't speak any Chinese. Fortunately she met a girl passing by who could speak fluent English, and helped her handle it. I told her: aren't you lucky? You remind me of my last time in K.S.A. We couldn't understand Arabic either; didn't have enough  knowledge about prescriptions to explain our needs in English, and no one could speak Chinese. We had to drive a very long way to somewhere like a little Chinatown before we got what we wanted. Really far away from our place. 


The girl has clinical depression and bought some ibuprofen; she took a long time  asking for information about the medicine interaction for she also took drugs for depression . She looked pretty and healthy,so it was hard to believe it. Then a question really struck me. Do we Chinese under diagnose depression? Or do Westerners overdiagnose it? For I know so many Chinese people going through feelings of burnout, but they have few ways of dealing with it. Lack of social support, lack of medical awareness, makes it really tough for them. So, what do you think? 


Hope this helps, Yi. As to your question, I suspect the answer is probably yes to both. Many people feel depressed at times, because life has it's hard moments, but not so many become clinically depressed. Western doctors may be inclined to medicate straight away, rather than try other ways to help first. Pharmaceutical companies are keen to make money from depression, for sure. In China there may be an unwillingness to admit to mental distress, either to a doctor or to family and friends. Maybe you are just expected to deal with it by yourself.

April 1, 2015
Yes, any other errors? One of my Chinese friends told me it's full of chinglish, what do you think?
March 29, 2015
Hi. Pharmacy is the correct spelling. Maybe you already realized this :)
March 29, 2015
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