Meet 48-year-old Amelia D. Pagdanganan, a Filipino educator and author, who are transforming the country’s mental health landscape by helping aspiring writers become published authors. (Photo by: PIA-NCR)
(Trigger Warning: This content mentions suicide)
Mental health crisis is increasingly becoming a rising epidemic due to a lot of risk factors stemming from personal, professional, and social circumstances which are experienced differently with varying degrees of difficulty.
The National Center for Mental Health (NCHM) is raising awareness on the reported increase in the number of individuals who have died by suicide in the country in the last 10 years.
According to the data released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the most number of suicide deaths occurred in 2020 with 4,892 individuals losing their battle to mental health. In 2022, over 8 people die by suicide everyday.
Despite these figures being truly disheartening, it still does not depict the complete picture of mental health crisis due to the persisting stigma.
Conversations on mental health disorders, let alone suicide, is often unwelcome, said the NCMH due to “cultural stigma, lack of awareness, social norms, religious beliefs, and personal reasons.” However, if this kind of important conversation will forever be avoided, how can we extend help to those in need?
“To support people struggling with these issues and raise awareness, we need to openly discuss suicide in a safe, healthy, helpful, and kind way, educate ourselves and others, and learn how to support loved ones who are suffering,” the NCMH stressed.
Speaking of safe, healthy, helpful, and kind way…
Amelia D. Pagdanganan, a 48-year-old Filipino educator and author, is making headway in helping people cope with mental health challenges through the art of writing.
Pagdanganan, who is popularly known for her pen name or pseudonym as Lolakwentosera, openly talked about her traumatic experiences which served as her driving force to start writing.
“I have experienced childhood traumatic episodes. Kapag pala bata ka pa, nakaranas ka ng mga trauma, it affects your safety. Ang tendency, nagkaroon ka ng fantasy disorder–excessive kang nagpapantasya ng ibang buhay out of yourself,” Pagdanganan shared.
(I have experienced childhood traumatic episodes. Little did I know, when you experience trauma as a child, it affects your safety. The tendency is, you develop a fantasy disorder–you are excessively fantasizing a different life out of yourself.)
As a means to cope with her trauma, Pagdanganan started to write short stories with herself as the main character, channeling her pain into a work of art.
She took the risk of borrowing money from the bank amounting to P50,000 which she used to publish 500 copies of her first book entitled “Sino ang Dakila? Sino ang Tunay na Baliw?” that explores themes related to mental health.
BALIW stands for “Brains, Attitude, Leading in Wickedness” which is aimed at putting mental health in proper perspective.
“I didn’t know na ‘yung pagsusulat ko pala na ‘yun, yun yung naging reason kung bakit hindi ako tuluyang nabaliw sa mga dinanas kong problema,” she added.
(I did not know that my writing journey would be the reason why I kept my sanity despite the problems I experienced.)
Upon publishing the book, Pagdanganan thought that she had already conquered her life’s biggest challenge. However, the COVID-19 pandemic came and she was not able to sell the copies of her book–yet another obstacle that she needed to overcome.
Eventually, Pagdanganan decided to hold seminars about her book with the goal of inspiring other people struggling with mental health to write their pain away.
This advocacy became a bridge for Pagdanganan to reach the hearts of students who are also looking for coping mechanisms.
At present, Pagdanganan is now helping students to become an author by publishing their anthologies from all walks of life.
The book entitled “Cradle of Lullabies” is one of the anthologies that Pagdanganan helped to publish. It is composed of stories written by 15 students with different emotional baggage that they want to leave behind. The youngest author of this book is a 13-year-old Grade 8 student.
“I hope you will give these stories a chance to touch your hearts because though they are perfectly imperfect, they are perfect for you,” Pagdanganan noted.
To further broaden her perspective on mental health, Pagdanganan is currently pursuing a Master Degree specializing in Clinical Psychology, in hopes to help more students to be mentally healthy beyond becoming authors of their own story.
Get a copy of Lolakwentosera’s books
Lolakwentosera’s books and the anthology of her students are available at the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) located at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. It will run from September 11 to 15, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
In case you are interested in starting your writing journey, the National Book Development Board (NBDB) Philippines is also at the MIBF to help aspiring writers become published authors.
The NBDB Philippines offers various grants for both individuals and enterprises who are looking for assistance ranging from writing workshops, translating stories into another language, to publishing manuscripts.
These include the Creative Nation Grant, Publication Grant, Translation Grant, and the National Book Development Trust Fund (NBDTF) Grant, which are all aimed at professionalizing and expanding the country’s book publishing industry.
To know more about the said grants, you can visit the official website of the NBDB Philippines at books.gov.ph. You may also reach [email protected] for inquiries regarding the grant eligibility. (JMP/PIA-NCR)
