Rescue from Fear

According to official data from ICN Yugoslavia, Yugoslavs have in the past year purchased and probably spent 3.8 million packages of Bensadine, known as the five ml medicine for nerves. The medication is distributed exclusively on prescription, which means that purchasing the medication is preceded by a doctor's diagnosis and expert approval for the use of the medication.

After the quarrel with ICN this summer, when company owner Milan Panic dared to demand his own money from the state to which he delivered medication worth 200 million dollars that has yet to be paid to him, ICN was taken off the so-called positive list by state decision and today its drugs are purchased without prescription at the user’s expense. That means that even Bensedine can be found on the open market for medicine. At ICN, they say that the sale of this popular drug is going well these days while in pharmacies we got confirmation of the manufacturer’s assessment. "They ask for Bensedine a lot. But it's not appropriate for us to sell it with out a prescription. Somehow we sort of size up and examine those who try to buy it so that we only sell the medication when we see a serious person," said one conscientious Belgrade pharmacist, reminding us of the increased abuse of Bensedine mixed with alcohol for the purpose of drug use.

Other sedatives, like nobrium and leksilium, are sought in pharmacies these days. Vreme's sources in the Central Pharmaceutical Institute and
Hospital in the center of Belgrade claim that bensedine is the people's drug of choice. Everyone in the villages and cities knows about it while those oriented toward other medicines are our citizens in the more elite professions: doctors, actors, and writers, for example. Liksilium and nobrium do not necessarily signify elite psychological nuisances.

These are always stress, depression, fear, an uncomfortable feelings of tension, sleeplessness, anxiety, insecurity, and possible aggression.

If one neglects a sedative usage of almost four million (Bensadine alone) by ten million citizens, that being prior to the most recent threat of bombardment, what can we say today about the mental state of a nation that has mainly lived in abnormal conditions for ten years? Dr. Vladimir Diligenski, head of the Department for Clinical Psychiatry in Dragisa Misovic Hospital, tells Vreme that in the last few days more patients than usual have come to the hospital with psychological problems and that "everyone was in really bad shape." "These are real fears; people should be allowed to take them reasonably, but the more sensitive ones aren't finding a solution. In principle, the greater the uncertainty, the greater the fear. That is the situation in which a hunger for information appears and if there isn't any, greater panic arises than is really necessary. People endure with difficulty the prolongation of that which must happen or which must be announced while one must be able to bear it in the conditions we currently find ourselves in."
Perhaps Belgrade isn't panic stricken these days owing to the orderly consumption of sedatives, but some preliminary work has already come to the conclusion that if worst comes to worst, there will be neither complete composure nor at the least illusory tranquillity. Quarrels over who the shelters belong to and who can go to them are already in their first phase. In food lines ( under the assumption that oil and sugar are arriving streight from the TV into the stores), there is even more nervousness, while the situation in homes is hardly any better. Tension is growing, but sedatives are bing rationed for the bomb shelters. Have you tried to call anybody when the news is on?

Belgrade's psychological "valve", aided by sedatives and an inexhaustible spirit (as they are already going to bomb, I have to move) is functioning for now, such that fear and stress have provoked only mental difficulties and just mild shocks of adrenaline. Doctors in Belgrade's health centers confirm this, at the same time taking the opportunity to warn citizens of the danger of the flu epidemic.

In contrast to Belgrade, the darkest and most senseless stories about our military in the forests and about foreign spies who wander about with German Shepherds and scribble down where is the radar and our military defense systems, circulate throughout the provinces. If they neglect themselves and commit acts of insanity that produce panic, perhaps we can see in a story from one Nis elementary school what kind of conditions children are growing up in. In the seventh grade, the teacher found teary eyed children. According to her story, they did not ask to go out, they only tried to hide their tears. They were crying and acted as if they were completely powerless. They said that it was fear of bombardment.

Children are too young for bensadine, yet they are too old to be lied to. In the past ten years, every generation of elementary school students lived through an unpleasant experience: first they leaned that their country had fallen apart, afterwards the war came, then sanctions, then hunger. Bombs are the most recent reality. The children who survived all this are today’s junior high schoolers. Experts claim that they are susceptible to crime, aggression and intolerance. That is the age group which invented the favorite combination of today's junior high schoolers: Bensadine plus alcohol.

What is our next fear? Perhaps it is the fear of a shortage of the popular Bensadine at the also popular price of 8.4 dinars per box, so necessary for calm behavior in abnormal situations.