Last year ... was hell. It was my first time eating Nigerian "jollof."
去年...糟透了。我第一次品尝了尼日利亚的辣味大锅饭。
Actually, in all seriousness, I was going through a lot of personal turmoil.
实际上，严肃地说，我经历了太多的个人的困境。
Faced with enormous stress, I suffered an anxiety attack.
面对大量的压力，我感觉很焦虑。
On some days, I could do no work. On other days, I just wanted to lay in my bed and cry.
有时候，我无法工作。有时候，我甚至只想躺在床上哭泣。
My doctor asked if I'd like to speak with a mental health professional about my stress and anxiety.
我的医生问我是否愿意见一下心理健康专家，谈谈我的压力和焦虑。
Mental health? I clammed up and violently shook my head in protest.
心理健康？我闭上嘴，疯狂地摇头以示抗议。
I felt a profound sense of a shame. I felt the weight of stigma.
一股深深的羞耻感袭上心头。沉重的羞耻。
I have a loving, supportive family and incredibly loyal friends,
我有一个充满爱和支持的家庭，我有一群无比忠诚的朋友，
yet I could not entertain the idea of speaking to anyone about my feeling of pain.
然而我不能接受这样的想法：与别人谈谈我痛苦的情感。
I felt suffocated by the rigid architecture of our African masculinity.
我们非洲对于男子气概严格的观点都要让我窒息了。
"People have real problems, Sangu. Get over yourself!"
“人们都有现实的问题，桑谷，你得战胜自己！”
The first time I heard "mental health,"
我第一次听说“心理健康”时，
I was a boarding school student fresh off the boat from Ghana, at the Peddie School in New Jersey.
我还是来自加纳的一名寄宿新生，就读于纽泽西州的佩蒂中学。
I had just gone through the brutal experience of losing seven loved ones in the same month.
我刚刚经历了一个月内失去7个亲人的残酷事实。
The school nurse, concerned about what I'd gone through -- God bless her soul -- she inquired about my mental health.
学校的护士关心我的经历--上帝保佑她--她询问我的心理健康状况。
"Is she mental?" I thought. Does she not know I'm an African man?
“她心理不正常吗？”我想。她不知道我是非洲男人吗？
Like Okonkwo in "Things Fall Apart," we African men neither process nor express our emotions.
就像《生命中不可承受之重》里的奥康渥，我们非洲男人既不处理也不表达自己的感情。
We deal with our problems. We deal with our problems.
我们解决自己的问题。我们解决自己的问题。
I called my brother and laughed about "Oyibo" people -- white people
我打电话给我的哥哥，嘲笑白人，
and their strange diseases -- depression, ADD and those "weird things."
和他们奇怪的疾病，比如忧郁症、注意力缺乏症候群这些奇怪的东西。
Growing up in West Africa, when people used the term "mental," what came to mind was a madman with dirty, dread-locked hair,
身为在西非长大的人，提到“心理”这个名词时，进入脑海的是一个疯子，顶着看起来脏兮兮的“脏辫头”，
bumbling around half-naked on the streets.
半裸着身体在街上摇摇晃晃。
We all know this man. Our parents warned us about him.
我们都认识这个人。我们的父母用他来警告过我们。
"Mommy, mommy, why is he mad?" "Drugs! If you even look at drugs, you end up like him."
“妈妈，妈妈，他为什么疯了？”“毒品！就算你只看了一眼毒品，下场也会和他一样。”
Come down with pneumonia, and your mother will rush you to the nearest hospital for medical treatment.
如果得了肺炎，妈妈会带你到最近的医院治疗。
But dare to declare depression, and your local pastor will be driving out demons and blaming witches in your village.
但是，如果声称得了忧郁症，当地的牧师将会驱赶恶魔，并且责备村子里的女巫。
According to the World Health Organization, mental health is about being able to cope with the normal stressors of life;
根据世界卫生组织，心理健康是指能够处理生活中的正常压力的能力；
to work productively and fruitfully; and to be able to make a contribution to your community.
高效流畅地工作；能对小区做出贡献。

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being.
心理健康包涵我们的情感、心理和社会福祉。
Globally, 75 percent of all mental illness cases can be found in low-income countries.
全球所有心理疾病案例中的75%都能在低收入国家中发现。
Yet most African governments invest less than one percent of their health care budget in mental health.
但是绝大多数非洲政府仅将其健康预算中不到1%的钱投入到心理健康。
Even worse, we have a severe shortage of psychiatrists in Africa.
更糟糕的是，非洲的精神病医生严重短缺。
Nigeria, for example, is estimated to have 200 -- in a country of almost 200 million.
比如，尼日利亚，一个两亿人口的国家，只有200名精神病医生。
In all of Africa, 90 percent of our people lack access to treatment.
整个非洲，90%的人缺乏治疗。
As a result, we suffer in solitude, silenced by stigma.
结果是，我们孤独地忍受着，羞耻地沉默着。
We as Africans often respond to mental health with distance, ignorance, guilt, fear and anger.
我们非洲人对心理健康的回应是距离、无知、内疚、恐惧和愤怒。
In a study conducted by Arboleda-Flórez, directly asking, "What is the cause of mental illness?"
在阿尔博莱达德—弗洛雷斯指导的一项研究中，他直接问道：“心理疾病的起因是什么？”
34 percent of Nigerian respondents cited drug misuse; 19 percent said divine wrath and the will of God
34%的尼日利亚人认为是滥用毒品；19%的人归因于神的愤怒和上帝的旨意。
12 percent, witchcraft and spiritual possession.
12%的人则认为是巫术和邪灵附身。
But few cited other known causes of mental illness, like genetics, socioeconomic status, war, conflict or the loss of a loved one.
但很少有人举出已知的精神疾病成因。例如遗传、社会经济状况、战争、冲突或者失去亲人。
The stigmatization against mental illness often results in the ostracizing and demonizing of sufferers.
对心理疾病的污名化常常导致对患者的排斥和妖魔化。
Photojournalist Robin Hammond has documented some of these abuses ... in Uganda, in Somalia, and here in Nigeria.
摄影记者罗宾·哈蒙德已经记录下了这些行为。在乌干达，在索马里，以及这里，尼日利亚。
For me, the stigma is personal. In 2009, I received a frantic call in the middle of the night.
对我而言，污名化是亲身的经历。在2009年，半夜我接到了一通疯狂的电话。
My best friend in the world -- a brilliant, philosophical, charming, hip young man -- was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
我最好的朋友，一个才华横溢、明哲、迷人、时髦的小伙子，被诊断为精神分裂症。
I witnessed some of the friends we'd grown up with recoil.
我亲眼目睹了一些一起长大的朋友的做法。
I heard the snickers. I heard the whispers. "Did you hear he has gone mad?" "He has gone crazy!"
我听到了窃笑。我听到了窃窃私语。“你听说他疯了的事吗？”“他开始发飙了！”
Derogatory, demeaning commentary about his condition -- words we would never say about someone with cancer or someone with malaria.
关于他的状况的那些贬低、贬损的评论，那些词，从来不会用于某个患了癌症的人，或者某个得了痢疾的人。
Somehow, when it comes to mental illness, our ignorance eviscerates all empathy.
不知什么原因，一谈到心理疾病，我们的无知就将所有的同情剔除干净。
I stood by his side as his community isolated him, but our love never wavered.
当他被小区隔离时，我站在他的旁边，但我们的爱从未动摇。
Tacitly, I became passionate about mental health.
默默地，我开始关注心理健康。
Inspired by his plight, I helped found the mental health special interest alumni group at my college.
受到他的困境的启发，我在学校发现了一个心理健康特别兴趣校友小组。
And during my tenure as a resident tutor in graduate school, I supported many undergraduates with their mental health challenges.
在我担任研究生宿舍导师期间，我帮助了很多面临心理健康调整的大学生。
I saw African students struggle and unable to speak to anyone.
我发现非洲学生在挣扎，无法跟任何人沟通。
Even with this knowledge and with their stories in tow, I, in turn, struggled,
即使带着这些知识和他们的故事，在面对我自己的焦虑时，我反而也在挣扎，
and could not speak to anyone when I faced my own anxiety, so deep is our fear of being the madman.
并且无法跟任何人沟通。所以深层次的原因是我们害怕成为疯子。
All of us -- but we Africans especially -- need to realize that our mental struggles do not detract from our virility,
我们所有人--特别是非洲人--要意识到我们的心理挣扎并不会减损我们的力量，
nor does our trauma taint our strength. We need to see mental health as important as physical health.
心理创伤也不会腐蚀我们的力量。我们要意识到心理健康和身体健康一样重要。
We need to stop suffering in silence. We must stop stigmatizing disease and traumatizing the afflicted.
我们不要在沉默中忍受。我们必须停止污名化疾病，停止伤害患者。
Talk to your friends. Talk to your loved ones. Talk to health professionals. Be vulnerable.
和你的朋友谈谈。和你的爱人谈谈。和健康专业人士谈谈。弱势一点。
Do so with the confidence that you are not alone. Speak up if you're struggling.
迈开这一步，并且相信你并不是一个人。如果你还在挣扎，大声说出来。
Being honest about how we feel does not make us weak; it makes us human.
诚实面对自己的感受并不会让我们弱小；反而使我们成为人。
It is time to end the stigma associated with mental illness.
是时候终止污名化心理疾病了。
So the next time your hear "mental," do not just think of the madman. Think of me. Thank you.
所以，下一次，当你听到“心理”这个词，不要仅仅想到疯子，想想我。谢谢。