TEDGlobal 2012
Ruby Wax: What's so funny about mental illness?
Ruby Wax: Kaj je tako smešnega pri duševni bolezni?
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Bolezen telesa pri ljudeh vzbudi sočutje, pravi komedijantka Ruby Wax -- razen bolezni možganov. Zakaj? Energično in s kopico humorja, nas Wax, ki so ji pred desetletjem postavili diagnozo klinične depresije, poziva, da prenehamo s stigmatizacijo duševne bolezni.
Ruby Wax - Comedian and Mental Health Activist
Ruby Wax is a loud, funny woman -- who spent much of her comedy career battling depression in silence. Now her work blends mental health advocacy and laughs. Full bio
Ruby Wax is a loud, funny woman -- who spent much of her comedy career battling depression in silence. Now her work blends mental health advocacy and laughs. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
One in four people suffer from some sort of mental illness,
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Eden od štirih ljudi trpi
za neko duševno boleznijo.
za neko duševno boleznijo.
00:19
so if it was one, two, three, four, it's you, sir.
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Ena, dva, tri, štiri - vi gospod.
00:24
You. Yeah. (Laughter)
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Vi, ja. (Smeh)
00:25
With the weird teeth. And you next to him. (Laughter)
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Vi, s čudnimi zobmi. In vi ob njem.
00:29
You know who you are.
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Veste, kateri ste.
00:30
Actually, that whole row isn't right. (Laughter)
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V bistvu je s celo vrsto
nekaj narobe. (Smeh)
nekaj narobe. (Smeh)
00:32
That's not good. Hi. Yeah. Real bad. Don't even look at me. (Laughter)
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To ni dobro. Prav slabo je.
Niti poglejte me ne. (Smeh)
Niti poglejte me ne. (Smeh)
00:37
I am one of the one in four. Thank you.
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Jaz sem ena od štirih. Hvala.
00:42
I think I inherit it from my mother, who,
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Mislim, da sem to podedovala po materi,
00:45
used to crawl around the house on all fours.
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ki je kobacala po hiši po vseh štirih.
00:48
She had two sponges in her hand, and then she had two
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V rokah je imela dve spužvi,
še dve je imela
še dve je imela
00:51
tied to her knees. My mother was completely absorbent. (Laughter)
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privezani na kolena.
Popolnoma vpojna je bila.
Popolnoma vpojna je bila.
00:56
And she would crawl around behind me going,
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Kobacala je za mano in vpila,
00:58
"Who brings footprints into a building?!"
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"Kdo nosi stopinje v hišo?!"
01:02
So that was kind of a clue that things weren't right.
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To je bil znak, da ni vse v redu.
01:04
So before I start, I would like to thank
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Preden začnem, bi se rada zahvalila
01:09
the makers of Lamotrigine, Sertraline, and Reboxetine,
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izdelovalcem Lamortigina,
Sertralina in Reboxetina,
Sertralina in Reboxetina,
01:14
because without those few simple chemicals, I would not be vertical today.
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ker brez teh preprostih kemikalij
danes ne bi bila v pokončnem položaju.
danes ne bi bila v pokončnem položaju.
01:19
So how did it start?
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Kako se je začelo?
01:24
My mental illness -- well, I'm not even going to talk about my mental illness.
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Moja duševna bolezen -- no, ne bom
govorila o moji duševni bolezni.
govorila o moji duševni bolezni.
01:28
What am I going to talk about? Okay.
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O čem bom govorila? Torej,
01:30
I always dreamt that, when I had my final breakdown,
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vedno sem si predstavljala,
da ko bom doživela živčni zlom,
da ko bom doživela živčni zlom,
01:34
it would be because I had a deep Kafkaesque
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bo to zaradi globokega (kot pri Kafki)
01:37
existentialist revelation,
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eksistencialističnega razodetja.
01:39
or that maybe Cate Blanchett would play me and she would win an Oscar for it. (Laughter)
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Ali da me bo v filmu upodobila
Cate Blanchett in za to prejela Oskarja.
Cate Blanchett in za to prejela Oskarja.
01:44
But that's not what happened. I had my breakdown
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A ni bilo tako. Živčni zlom sem doživela
01:47
during my daughter's sports day.
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med športnim dnem moje hčere.
01:49
There were all the parents sitting in a parking lot
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Vsi starši so sedeli na parkirišču,
01:53
eating food out of the back of their car -- only the English --
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jedli s prtljažnikov svojih avtomobilov
(samo v Angliji) --
(samo v Angliji) --
01:57
eating their sausages. They loved their sausages. (Laughter)
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jedli svoje klobase. Zaljubljeni so
v svoje klobase. (Smeh)
v svoje klobase. (Smeh)
02:03
Lord and Lady Rigor Mortis were nibbling on the tarmac,
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Lord in lady Rigor Mortis
sta grizljala na asfaltu.
sta grizljala na asfaltu.
02:07
and then the gun went off and all the girlies started running,
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Sprožila se je startna pištola
in dekleta so začela teči.
in dekleta so začela teči.
02:10
and all the mummies went, "Run! Run Chlamydia! Run!" (Laughter)
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Vse mame so vpile, "Teci!
Teci Klamidija! Teci!" (Smeh)
Teci Klamidija! Teci!" (Smeh)
02:15
"Run like the wind, Veruca! Run!"
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"Teci kot veter, Veruca! Teci!"
02:19
And all the girlies, girlies running, running, running,
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In vse deklice so tekle in tekle,
02:21
everybody except for my daughter, who was just standing
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razen moje hčerke, ki je samo stala
02:24
at the starting line, just waving,
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ob startni črti in mahala,
02:27
because she didn't know she was supposed to run.
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ker ni vedela, da bi morala teči.
02:30
So I took to my bed for about a month, and when I woke up
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Obležala sem za kak mesec
in ko sem se prebudila,
in ko sem se prebudila,
02:34
I found I was institutionalized, and when I saw the other inmates,
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sem ugotovila, da sem v bolnišnici.
Ko sem videla druge oskrbovance,
Ko sem videla druge oskrbovance,
02:38
I realized that I had found my people, my tribe. (Laughter)
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sem dojela, da sem našla
svoje ljudi, svoje pleme. (Smeh)
svoje ljudi, svoje pleme. (Smeh)
02:43
Because they became my only friends, they became my friends,
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Postali so moji edini prijatelji,
02:46
because very few people that I knew -- Well, I wasn't
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ker zelo malo ljudi, ki sem jih poznala
-- no, nisem
-- no, nisem
02:49
sent a lot of cards or flowers. I mean, if I had had a broken leg
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prejela veliko rož in razglednic.
Če bi si zlomila nogo
Če bi si zlomila nogo
02:53
or I was with child I would have been inundated,
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ali če bi rodila,
bi bila oblegana z ljudmi.
bi bila oblegana z ljudmi.
02:55
but all I got was a couple phone calls telling me to perk up.
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Ampak poklicalo me je samo nekaj ljudi
in mi reklo, naj se razvedrim.
in mi reklo, naj se razvedrim.
02:59
Perk up.
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Razvedrim.
03:00
Because I didn't think of that. (Laughter)
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Ker sama nisem pomislila na to. (Smeh)
03:05
(Laughter) (Applause)
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(Smeh) (Aplavz)
03:08
Because, you know, the one thing, one thing that you get with this disease,
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Kot veste, s to boleznijo
03:13
this one comes with a package, is you get a real sense of shame,
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pride v paketu obilica sramu.
03:16
because your friends go, "Oh come on, show me the lump,
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Prijatelji rečejo, "Daj, pokaži mi buško,
03:19
show me the x-rays," and of course you've got nothing to show,
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pokaži mi rentgenske posnetke,"
in ti nimaš ničesar
in ti nimaš ničesar
03:21
so you're, like, really disgusted with yourself because you're thinking,
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in se samemu sebi
zdiš odvraten, ker pomisliš
zdiš odvraten, ker pomisliš
03:24
"I'm not being carpet-bombed. I don't live in a township."
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"Saj nisem bombardiran.
Saj ne živim v revščini."
Saj ne živim v revščini."
03:27
So you start to hear these abusive voices, but you don't hear one abusive voice,
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In slišiš grozeče prisluhe
-- ne samo enega,
-- ne samo enega,
03:31
you hear about a thousand -- 100,000 abusive voices,
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slišiš tisoče, sto tisoče grozečih glasov.
03:33
like if the Devil had Tourette's, that's what it would sound like.
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Če bi imel hudič Tourettov sindrom,
bi zvenelo točno tako.
bi zvenelo točno tako.
03:37
But we all know in here, you know, there is no Devil,
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Ampak vemo, da hudič ne obstaja,
03:40
there are no voices in your head.
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glasovi v tvoji glavi niso resnični.
03:42
You know that when you have those abusive voices,
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Veš, da te glasove slišiš takrat,
03:44
all those little neurons get together and in that little gap
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ko se vsi ti majčkeni nevroni
zberejo v tej mali vrzeli,
zberejo v tej mali vrzeli,
03:47
you get a real toxic "I want to kill myself" kind of chemical,
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in dobiš tisto "rad-bi-se-ubil"
strupeno kemikalijo,
strupeno kemikalijo,
03:50
and if you have that over and over again on a loop tape,
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in če se to ponavlja in ponavlja,
03:53
you might have yourself depression.
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imaš depresijo.
03:55
Oh, and that's not even the tip of the iceberg.
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In to sploh ni vrh ledene gore.
03:58
If you get a little baby, and you abuse it verbally,
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Če dobiš otroka in ga verbalno zlorabljaš,
04:01
its little brain sends out chemicals that are so destructive
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njegovi mali možgani proizvajajo
tako uničujoče kemikalije,
tako uničujoče kemikalije,
04:05
that the little part of its brain that can tell good from bad just doesn't grow,
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da se mali del možganov, ki razlikuje
med dobrim in zlim, sploh ne razvije,
med dobrim in zlim, sploh ne razvije,
04:09
so you might have yourself a homegrown psychotic.
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in dobiš doma vzgojenega psihotika.
04:12
If a soldier sees his friend blown up, his brain goes into
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Če vojak vidi prijatelja, ki ga raznese,
gredo njegovi možgani
gredo njegovi možgani
04:15
such high alarm that he can't actually put the experience into words,
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v stanje tako visokega alarma,
da tega ne zna ubesediti,
da tega ne zna ubesediti,
04:19
so he just feels the horror over and over again.
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in to grozo vseskozi podoživlja.
04:22
So here's my question. My question is, how come
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Torej tu je moje vprašanje. Kako to,
04:24
when people have mental damage, it's always an active imagination?
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da ko imajo ljudje duševno bolezen,
je to vedno samo domišljija?
je to vedno samo domišljija?
04:28
How come every other organ in your body can get sick
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Kako to, da vsak drug organ lahko zboli
04:31
and you get sympathy, except the brain?
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in smo deležni sočutja, razen možgani?
04:34
I'd like to talk a little bit more about the brain,
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Rada bi povedala več o možganih,
04:37
because I know you like that here at TED,
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ker vem, da vam je na TED-u to všeč.,
04:39
so if you just give me a minute here, okay.
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Dovolite mi, samo trenutek.
04:42
Okay, let me just say, there's some good news.
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Torej, imam dobre novice.
04:44
There is some good news. First of all, let me say,
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Nekaj dobrih novic. Najprej naj povem,
04:47
we've come a long, long way.
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da smo prišli zelo daleč.
04:50
We started off as a teeny, teeny little one-celled amoeba,
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Začeli smo kot majčkena enocelična ameba,
04:54
tiny, just sticking onto a rock, and now, voila, the brain.
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majcena, ki se tišči k skali,
in naenkrat -- možgani.
in naenkrat -- možgani.
04:58
Here we go. (Laughter)
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Pa začnimo. (Smeh)
05:00
This little baby has a lot of horsepower.
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Ta stvar ima veliko konjskih moči.
05:03
It comes completely conscious. It's got state-of-the-art lobes.
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Popolnoma je opremljena z zavestjo.
Ima najsodobnejše režnje.
Ima najsodobnejše režnje.
05:07
We've got the occipital lobe so we can actually see the world.
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Tu je zatilni reženj,
da lahko vidimo svet.
da lahko vidimo svet.
05:11
We got the temporal lobe so we can actually hear the world.
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Imamo senčni reženj, da slišimo svet.
Tule je malo dolgoročnega spomina,
05:13
Here we've got a little bit of long-term memory,
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05:15
so, you know that night you want to forget, when you got really drunk? Bye-bye! Gone. (Laughter)
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tako da, tista pijana noč, ki bi jo
najraje pozabili? Adijo! Ni je več.
najraje pozabili? Adijo! Ni je več.
05:20
So actually, it's filled with 100 billion neurons
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Torej, možgani so napolnjeni s
100 milijardami nevronov,
100 milijardami nevronov,
05:23
just zizzing away, electrically transmitting information,
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ki brenčijo, z električnimi impulzi
prenašajo informacije,
prenašajo informacije,
05:27
zizzing, zizzing. I'm going to give you a little side view here.
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brenčijo in brenčijo. Naj pokažem
pogled s strani.
pogled s strani.
05:29
I don't know if you can get that here. (Laughter)
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Ne vem ali vsi vidite. (Smeh)
05:33
So, zizzing away, and so — (Laughter) —
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Torej, brenčijo, in -- (Smeh) --
05:37
And for every one — I know, I drew this myself. Thank you.
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in vsak -- vem,
sama sem to narisala. Hvala.
sama sem to narisala. Hvala.
05:41
For every one single neuron, you can actually have
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Vsak posamezni nevron ima lahko
05:44
from 10,000 to 100,000 different connections
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od 10.000 do 100.000 povezav
05:48
or dendrites or whatever you want to call it, and every time
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ali dendritov, ali kakorkoli jim pravimo,
05:51
you learn something, or you have an experience,
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in vsakič, ko se nekaj naučiš ali izkusiš,
05:54
that bush grows, you know, that bush of information.
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ta grm zraste, ta grm informacij.
05:56
Can you imagine, every human being is carrying
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Si lahko predstavljate:
vsak človek v sebi nosi
vsak človek v sebi nosi
05:59
that equipment, even Paris Hilton? (Laughter)
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to opremo, celo Paris Hilton? (Smeh)
06:04
Go figure.
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Kdo bi si mislil.
06:06
But I got a little bad news for you folks. I got some bad news.
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Imam pa tudi nekaj slabih novic.
06:09
This isn't for the one in four. This is for the four in four.
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To ni za enega med štirimi,
to je za vse štiri od štirih.
to je za vse štiri od štirih.
06:12
We are not equipped for the 21st century.
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Nismo opremljeni za 21. stoletje.
06:16
Evolution did not prepare us for this. We just don't have the bandwidth,
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Evolucija nas ni pripravila na to.
Nimamo dovolj pasovne širine
Nimamo dovolj pasovne širine
06:20
and for people who say, oh, they're having a nice day,
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in ljudje, ki pravijo, da se imajo lepo,
06:23
they're perfectly fine, they're more insane than the rest of us.
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da so v redu,
so še bolj nori kot mi.
so še bolj nori kot mi.
06:26
Because I'll show you where there might be a few glitches
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Pokazala vam bom,
kje je nekaj spodrsljajev
kje je nekaj spodrsljajev
06:29
in evolution. Okay, let me just explain this to you.
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v evoluciji. Naj vam razložim.
06:31
When we were ancient man — (Laughter) —
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Ko smo bili praljudje, -- (Smeh) --
06:35
millions of years ago, and we suddenly felt threatened
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pred milijoni let, in smo iznenada
začutili, da nas ogroža
začutili, da nas ogroža
06:39
by a predator, okay? — (Laughter) —
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plenilec -- V redu? (Smeh) --
06:42
we would — Thank you. I drew these myself. (Laughter)
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Hvala. Narisala sem jih sama. (Smeh)
06:45
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)
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Hvala lepa. Hvala. Hvala. (Aplavz)
06:49
Thank you. Anyway, we would fill up with our own adrenaline
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Hvala. -- torej, nas je preplavil
lasten adrenalin
lasten adrenalin
06:53
and our own cortisol, and then we'd kill or be killed,
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in lasten kortizol, in nato
smo ubili ali bili ubiti,
smo ubili ali bili ubiti,
06:56
we'd eat or we'd be eaten, and then suddenly we'd de-fuel,
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jedli ali bili pojedeni in nato
smo se nenadoma izpraznili,
smo se nenadoma izpraznili,
06:59
and we'd go back to normal. Okay.
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in bili spet normalni. V redu.
07:01
So the problem is, nowadays, with modern man— (Laughter) —
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Današnji problem je, da se sodobni človek,
-- (Smeh) --
-- (Smeh) --
07:06
when we feel in danger, we still fill up with our own chemical
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ko se počuti ogroženega,
napolni z lastnimi kemikalijami.
napolni z lastnimi kemikalijami.
07:10
but because we can't kill traffic wardens — (Laughter) —
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Ampak ker ne moremo
pobijati prometnikov (Smeh)
pobijati prometnikov (Smeh)
07:15
or eat estate agents, the fuel just stays in our body
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ali pojesti nepremičninskih posrednikov,
to gorivo ostane v našem telesu,
to gorivo ostane v našem telesu,
07:19
over and over, so we're in a constant state of alarm,
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znova in znova, in tako smo neprestano
v stanju pripravljenosti,
v stanju pripravljenosti,
07:22
a constant state. And here's another thing that happened.
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neprestano. In še nekaj se je zgodilo.
07:24
About 150,000 years ago, when language came online,
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Nekje pred 150.000 leti,
ko smo spoznali jezik,
ko smo spoznali jezik,
07:27
we started to put words to this constant emergency,
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smo tej neprestani pripravljenosti
dodali še besede.
dodali še besede.
07:29
so it wasn't just, "Oh my God, there's a saber-toothed tiger,"
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Tako ni samo, "O moj bog,
sabljezobi tiger," ampak tudi
sabljezobi tiger," ampak tudi
07:32
which could be, it was suddenly, "Oh my God, I didn't send the email. Oh my God, my thighs are too fat.
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"O moj bog, pozabil sem poslati email.
O moj bog, moja stegna so predebela.
O moj bog, moja stegna so predebela.
07:36
Oh my God, everybody can see I'm stupid. I didn't get invited to the Christmas party!"
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O moj bog, vsi vedo, da sem neumen.
Nisem bil povabljen na božično zabavo!"
Nisem bil povabljen na božično zabavo!"
07:40
So you've got this nagging loop tape that goes
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Tako imaš ta tečni ponavljajoči posnetek,
07:42
over and over again that drives you insane, so,
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ki se ponavlja in te spravlja ob pamet.
07:45
you see what the problem is? What once made you safe
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Vidite, kaj je problem?
Kar nas je nekoč ščitilo,
Kar nas je nekoč ščitilo,
07:48
now drives you insane.
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nas zdaj spravlja ob pamet.
07:50
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but somebody has to be.
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Žal mi je, da prinašam slabe novice,
ampak nekdo jih mora.
ampak nekdo jih mora.
07:53
Your pets are happier than you are. (Laughter)
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Vaši hišni ljubljenčki
so srečnejši od vas.
so srečnejši od vas.
07:59
(Applause)
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(Smeh) (Aplavz)
08:02
So kitty cat, meow, happy happy happy, human beings, screwed. (Laughter)
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Tako da, mucka, mijav, srečna, srečna --
človeška bitja, zavožena. (Smeh)
človeška bitja, zavožena. (Smeh)
08:07
Completely and utterly -- so, screwed.
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Popolnoma in čisto zavožena.
08:09
But my point is, if we don't talk about this stuff,
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Ampak moje sporočilo je:
če se ne pogovorimo o tem,
če se ne pogovorimo o tem,
08:12
and we don't learn how to deal with our lives, it's not going
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in se ne naučimo spoprijeti
s svojim življenjem,
s svojim življenjem,
08:14
to be one in four. It's going to be four in four
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ne bo le eden od štirih.
Štirje od štirih bodo taki,
Štirje od štirih bodo taki,
08:16
who are really, really going to get ill in the upstairs department.
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ki bodo resnično močno zboleli
v zgornjem nadstropju.
v zgornjem nadstropju.
08:20
And while we're at it, can we please stop the stigma?
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Ko smo že pri tem, ali lahko,
prosim, ne stigmatiziramo?
prosim, ne stigmatiziramo?
08:22
Thank you. (Applause)
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Hvala. (Aplavz)
08:29
(Applause) Thank you.
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(Aplavz) Hvala.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ruby Wax - Comedian and Mental Health ActivistRuby Wax is a loud, funny woman -- who spent much of her comedy career battling depression in silence. Now her work blends mental health advocacy and laughs.
Why you should listen
Winston Churchill called it "the Black Dog" -- a depression that settled over him and drained the flavor from life. Ruby Wax knows the Black Dog well; throughout the '80s and '90s, during a flourishing career as a brash comedian and interviewer in the UK, it trotted at her heels, even while she was interviewing the Duchess of York and sorting through Imelda Marcos' shoes.
After taking a timeout to learn how to manage the condition, Wax produced a stand-up comedy show called "Losing It" that directly addresses her mental health experiences, hilariously but powerfully. And she's started up a new social network called the Black Dog Tribe, which offers a community and support to people with depression. Meanwhile, she's working on her Master's in cognitive therapy.
Also, this year, Ruby was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her mental health work.
As she says: "I've always said to myself, if you've got a disability, use it." Read our Q&A with Ruby Wax >>
Ruby is also a visiting professor at The University of Surrey.
Ruby Wax | Speaker | TED.com