May 5: Mental Health Milestones on My Birthday

Africa Studio/AdobeStock

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

“Ubuntu: I am, because you are.” - Ancient African Proverb

Whether it means anything more than a curiosity or coincidence, for some years I have associated the date of my birthday with a few of its historical precedents. Maybe it is a way of narcissistically building up the importance of my birthday. I hope not. It could be the opposite, that I am a speck in time. I do know for sure that my birthday connects with the historical web of humanity. As just 1 collective example among almost an infinity of them, I was born with many connections to the Holocaust of World War II.

Since our focus this month is on mental health, I will focus in on historical mental health successes on May 5th, not the bad news for the date, of which there is plenty. Sometimes, too, the healthy and harmful coalesce in the same situations. Most religions and Freud posit that we are born with the potential for good and bad. Circumstances leads the way.

The usual May 5th connections I mention are these:

• 1862: Cinco de Mayo. Most people know of Cinco de Mayo. It gets a fair amount of media attention, as it should, in celebration with Mexican food, drink, and culture. It derives from Mexico’s military victory over a stronger France in 1862, though it took a few more years for France to leave. For me, it is this victory of independence over oppression and imperialism that is so important to remember, especially since we still have those challenges internationally.
• 1948: Japanese Children’s Day. This became a national holiday in Japan in 1948 as the country was beginning to recover from World War II. I understand that it focused then on male children, though that came to include females over the years. It projects a wish for good health and fortune for children. From a Japanese gift shop in a Ft. Lauderdale cultural center, years ago I bought a Japanese Children’s Day shirt that I have continued to wear on my birthday. It has carp on it, symbolizing strength and success. I take the symbolism to apply to everyone.
• 1945: The Czech uprising in Prague Against the Nazis. This anniversary tends to get lost in history due to the chaotic changes toward the end of World War II. This became a 3-party battle as the Russian army joined in. What it means to me is the courage and risk to fight authoritarian leadership.

For this series and today, I thought it might be useful to search for some other May 5th mental health associations in history. I found these.

• 1891: Carnegie Hall opens in 1891 in New York. What can be more inspiring and healing than the music that has been performed there over the years since? For many, playing at Carnegie Hall certifies quality. Music, especially jazz, is therapeutic for me.
• 1904: Cy Young pitches the first “perfect game” in modern baseball. I thought I was going to be a baseball player until I broke my leg skiing. We all know that perfection in anything is rare, but it can be aspirational for improvement and sometimes reached, perhaps even in some aspects of mental health.
• 1961: Alan Shepard became the first astronaut in space. Although exploring space has been on again, off again over the years, its successes reflect the technological development and courage of such exploration. All the satellites, of course, have enabled the major changes in our communication abilities.
• 1867: Nellie Bly was born. Back to the teaser from the last column, it turns out that this has to be the most fascinating May 5 example. Nellie Bly was the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane. From an early age, she was determined that women were more capable of work success than was typically allowed socially at the time. She became a journalist and wanted to take off on the very popular novel of Jules Verne published in 1872 titled, Around the World in Eighty Days. She wanted to try that journey in reality, but, of course, it was thought that task belonged to a man. However, she found a publisher that supported her and made the journey in 72 days from November 14, 1889, to January 25, 1890, and then wrote her book about that. Even before that, however, was her first journalistic assignment, which was to investigate New York’s mental hospitals and their abuse of patients. She became the first in history to feign mental illness and be hospitalized for 10 days. She found horrendous abuses and then published the book, Ten Days in a Mad-House. There have been similar exposes since that have helped to reduce any abuse in patients. She did marry, and remains a model for what women can do as good or better than men! My wife and I have travelled much of the world, including South Africa where Ubuntu came from, but piecemeal, and I have done my best to reduce the abuses of mental health care.

All these May 5 historical examples, and all our social relationships as psychiatrists and people, are major determinants of who we are and become. These social relationships start with our parent(s). Now, as I age and our children—Stacia and Evan—have grown up and our grandchildren—Noah, Mira, Hannah, and Allie—are reaching adulthood, I associate more and more to what my parents gave me. Becoming an adult, my wife Rusti took over, saved my life, and greatly influenced what I have come to value. My younger sister JoJo, in laws, friends, colleagues, Judaism, and even enemies provided their own Ubuntu.

Although I have concentrated on the mentally health influences, we must be very careful about falling into harmful influences and beliefs. Sometimes, as in the case of cults or troubled parenting, what on the surface looks like a loving relationship turns out to be oppressive. The harmful influences often end up being a major influence on mental disturbances needing psychiatric help. Ultimately, freedom of mind, that term emphasized by cult expert Steve Hassan, is essential for answering the questions posed by Hillel at the turn of the modern era:

“If I am not for myself, who will be?

If I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?”

What can be seen as possibly missing from these questions and the answers is: what are we collectively for? The well-being of the world depends on the right social influences and choices.

You can read a birthday poem from Moffic here.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.