Stars shine in the dark

Magro Connie And Macelli Nora (Eds Il-Kwiekeb fid-Dlam Jixegħlu - Vjaġġi ta’ tama mterrqa minn qraba ta’ persuni b’mard mentali (Illustr. Tony Macelli), Mental Health Association and St Jean Antide Foundation, Best Print: Il-Qrendi, Malta, 2011, 146 pp. €6

Il-Kwiekeb fid-Dlam Jixegħlu (Stars Shine in the Dark) is an anthology that becomes more of an experience for readers than most books they have read.

It pushes mental health issues from the bubble outside of the readers’ concern and places them solidly within his world.

The stories are each told by a person close to a sufferer. They do not exploit the suffering; they simply project it into the reader’s view. They tell the story as it is for them. The reader will feel a sense of appreciation as one does when a friend confides one with a very personal experience that is difficult to communicate.

The stories share a theme and yet each is worth reading both for the exposition of that theme, the world of the family touched by mental health issues, and for the very unique way that each family deals with the situation.

The storyteller is the person who has ensured the sufferer makes it through the difficult times and that those times are reduced in frequency and duration wherever possible.

The experience of each story leads us to reflect on all those who we may have avoided or at best wondered at or simply listened to with something inside of us telling us all was not well.

The stories tell us that these are the sisters, brothers, mothers or fathers around us who, fortunately, have loved ones who cared enough to do the right thing, seek medical advice as we do so easily when the difficulty has a name such as diabetes or cancer.

It seems the chemistry that explains the problems and which has to be put right medically has been considered taboo, unlike the very similar situation of an insulin-dependent diabetic who can have very similar experiences as a result of insulin shock.

In the case of the latter, a certain amount of glucose puts things right. In the case of a person who suffers from schizophrenia or manic depression or obsessive compulsive disorder or extreme anxiety or some phobia, life is no longer normal during periods when symptoms are not under control.

Therefore, the need to undergo treatment must be resolved. Unfortunately most medical treatment has its own side effects too.

All of this is the reality of the persons whose stories are told in this anthology.

Unfortunately, the names of mental health disorders suggest realities that most of us shun. The book tells us, however, that these are realities that could be true even for our neighbours, friends or relatives.

The reader will want to read the next volume – the story told by the sufferer.

Perhaps after that is published, many of us will have understood enough to help others not to shun words like schizophrenia and depression.

They can become as acceptable as diabetes. After all, they affect as many if not more of us to different degrees and at different stages.

For this reason, I would encourage the reader to go from the stories to the very important, short but informative chapters that complete the book.

Finally, one must point to the reflective illustrations. Watch out for the tiny young woman who starts her journey with us on the cover looking into the multi-layered chasm. This signals the awe and the depth.

She is there at the end of each of the 14 stories and again on the back cover. Perhaps we have to read on beyond this book to be able to look at the young woman’s face.