Stress not only white man’s disease
CLINICAL psychologists and a Zulu culture expert have punched holes in President Jacob Zuma’s claim that stress is a “white man’s disease”.
Zuma said Zulu people did not suffer from it as it was a foreign concept to them. Brushing aside calls for him to step down during his 75th birthday bash in Klipt he said in Zulu that he did not have stress because it did not exist among Zulu people.
“I do not have stress. In the Zulu nation‚ stress does not exist‚ you can go to a traditional healer asking to be healed from stress‚ but they do not have muti for stress.”
The president even went as far as to say there was no Zulu word for stress as it was a “white man’s disease”. He may be right that he is not stressed by calls for him to step down but he is wrong when he says Zulu people do not have stress and that there is no Zulu word for it.
“Yes, there is a Zulu word for stress it’s called ingcindezi and then a person can explain what kind of stress they are suffering from‚” retired University of KwaZulu-Natal Zulu lecturer and cultural expert, Ndela Ntshangase, said.
South African Depression and Anxiety Group board member Dr Nkini Phasha said Zuma’s utterances were unfortunate.
“This sort of narrative [that stress is exclusively an issue for white people] contributes to fuelling myths around mental illnesses‚” he said.
According to the results of the South African Stress and Health study‚ Indians‚ coloured and blacks recorded psychological distress scores “significantly higher than scores reported by whites”.
“Only Africans and Indians report significantly more instances of unfair treatment than whites. The average psychological distress scores for Africans‚ Coloureds‚ and Indians are significantly higher than scores reported by whites‚” the study reads.
Clinical Psychologist‚ Ingrid Artus‚ said stress was not a condition exclusive to one race group. “In my practice I have seen people from all walks of life who suffer with stress and stress-related issues. I can assure you that all race groups experience stress‚” she said. – TMG