I'd like to take a moment to address some of the criticisms that keep coming up in the comments: 1. "Salazar was not a fascist." This is up for debate. Many credible historians argue he was and many argue he wasn't. He's fascist enough for my taste. Even if he wasn't, he had a number of fascist tendencies and was still a pretty awful dictator. I chose to call him one here simply because it created an interesting comparison to Germany, Italy and Spain who had far more violent governments, but whose populations do not exhibit the mental health problems that Portugal's does. The idea here is to raise an important question at the beginning of the video, not quibble over political definitions. 2. "Brazil is number two on the list and that's where the Portuguese went, so your theory doesn't make sense." Incorrect. The majority of Brazil's population is NOT descendants of the Portuguese. The majority of Brazilians are of African descent. Brazil also has extremely large populations of Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese descent. Similarly, Portugal had many colonies, not just Brazil. Only a minority of people who left Portugal went to Brazil and only a minority of people who formed Brazil were Portuguese. On top of all of this, Brazil's anxiety rates are relatively recent. They weren't in the top 10 in previous datasets from decades ago. 3. "Portugal actually did have a terrible war." Yes, their colonial wars were bad but in the grand scheme of things, they were relatively small and minor compared to things such as World War 2, the Revolutions of Russia or China, the Vietnam War, Korea, etc. If war was a valid explanation for Portugal's anxiety, then the war-torn countries of the world would have vastly higher rates of anxiety than Portugal. But they don't. A lot of commenters seem to be forgetting that the question here is not, "Why are people in Portugal anxious?" The question is, "Why are people in Portugal anxious in numbers higher than any other country in the world?" That is a very different question and it therefore requires us to look at Portugal's problems, not just on their own, but also relative to other countries. Yes, Portugal has economic problems, political problems, social problems, etc. But are those problems uniquely extreme or bad to justify so many anxiety disorder diagnoses? The answer is no. They are not. The one thing that is extreme and unique in Portugal's history is what is discussed at the end of the video. This is the one thing that ONLY Portugal has experienced that no one else has. Therefore, it strikes me as a logical explanation for why Portugal displays the highest number of anxiety disorders in the world.
Where did you get your data that the majority of Brazil's population is not of Portuguese descendants ? My quick research on the topic showed otherwise. Plus, many of Africans that you say emigrated to Brazil could already be of Portuguese descent, as Portugal had colonies in Africa before even discovering Brazil. Moreover, Brazil was for a time the country where the king and powerful monarchs lived. There was massive immigration from Portugal to Brazil, I don't know where you are getting this data from... Regarding Portugal colonial war, yes it was "smaller" than world war 2, but if you take into account the population of Portugal at the time, and the number of such Portuguese man that fought in that war, you may find that there is a relevant percentage of man fighting there. We can't look at wars with just numbers, but we need to look at how much a war affects a country proportionally.
@@diogorio5249 African and indigenous Brazilians outnumbered European Brazilians by at least 2-to-1 for much of its early history, which is when most Portuguese emigration occurred. If you read about the slave trade and Brazil you will see the staggering numbers that came over. Brazil also had massive influxes of German, Italian, Lebanese, Japanese, and other immigrants in the 20th century. Portugal had a significant cultural impact on Brazil but in terms of actual populations that came over, it was not the majority. My sources: I've read a number of books on Brazilian history, lived there for a number of years and married one. Since we are discussing genetics, whether African slaves came from a Portuguese colony or not is inconsequential.
@@IAmMarkMansonplease do share one of such books as I would be interested in reading that. I think you misunderstood what I ment. If the Portuguese African colonies were already established before Portugal's discovery of Brazil, I think it is safe to assume many of Africans that arrived in Brazil would have by that point Portuguese genes. Thus, it is incorrect for you to say it's irrelevant.
The comments were dis-activated but I wonder if their colonization hundreds of years ago could contribute. Same with the USA it's a sort of karmic type of relationship with the past. 😢
I would love the source that discusses that portugal lost 40% of its population to colonies. I could not find that at all. What i did found, is that they had similar levels of colonial settlers when compared to the other colonial powers, which doesnt help the artificial selection theory. But i could be wrong. I know this video was focusing on portugal alone and why it has a percieved higher amount of anxiety then other western countries, but thats the thing. The conclusion we arrived at the end of the video falls short. And its very debatable if portugal truly is above other western countries or its just a study bias. I wrote a very lenghy and not in perfect english comment on why i dont completely agree with the video, which i will place bellow, but i have know this topic is increadibily complex and we, random people on the internet, will not be able to fully explain it no matter how long we discuss it. "Some points about this video. The methods used to collect the data to rank countries by anxiety is prone to extreme error. That shoud have been one of the main talking points. Self report is particularly prone to a number of bias. More stoic/colder countries will never self report correctly, while more emotional countries will probably over report it. There also a huge problem how people think about anxiety. Being anxious, by it self, is normal. It is a remnant of our fight or flight response since being a caveman. If you are studying for an important test, or have an upcoming job interview, you will be anxious, sometimes weeks before. That is not a disease. The actual medical disease group of anxiety disorders is when this anxiety has no obvious cause or trigger, and becomes a constant (cronic) disease having a huge impact on quality of life. Our lifestyle of constant small stress exposition could be the reason this desregulation of the response happens, as the doctor in the video was explaining, which im not sure the author of the video fully comprehended. Furthermore, there are many unrelated symptoms that could be cause my a constant state of anxiety that people often do not correlate with anxiety. A second interesting fact that sadly this video also missed, is how the medical field treats anxiety. Obviously, the first step is understading if it is an actual anxiety disorder, or simply, an acute response to stress which with a defined trigger, which, i repeat, is not a disease . However, this crucial first step is often overlooked even by doctors. So what ends up happening is many, many people being prescribed with Benzodiazepines (the most popular pharmacologic group) to treat this disorder. But. One of the most popular medications used, alprazolam, also known as xanax, is extremely addictive. And although today doctors are a lot more carefull with its prescription, that wasnt always the case in the past. Many people have done xanax, for relative benigne reasons, exposing them to addiction, (and a percieved state of anxiety related to the removal of the drug), and all the side effects of the medication. Portugal was a breeding ground for this. There is also a lot that could be said about how anxiety disorder and depression are often found together in the same patient, which creates a degree of complexety most studies completely ignore. If you ask someone with depression if they are anxious, they will say yes most of the time, and that will only be true, sometimes. Again, studies can lie. As a doctor, i have a lot of respect for psycology, but this video needed to embrace psychiatry a lot more to reach any amount of a decent conclusion which it did not. The most important step is probably make the diagnosis of anxiety, and what is and isnt a disorder. In the end, this is a well made video, but ends up being shallow and only grazing the issue. Which often leads to the perpetuation of misinformation even if its not the goal of it at all. And as a final touch, you excluded loneliness and social isolation way too soon and easily. Specialy among younger patients. Having a strong support structure arround a person is one of the most beneficial counters to many mental health issues including anxiety. Humans are social. And it might seem young people are more social then ever, but they are not. Social media isnt it. Far from it. Despite cities being more crowded then ever, people never felt so lonely. And although this doesnt apply to portugal alone, its one of the probable causes students report higher amounts of anxiety then other groups. There is no single cause that leads to portugal being number one. Personaly, i belive the self report statistics are irrelevant, but it is true portugal has a huge mental health issue. They are probably in line with most western countris though which are suffering the same fate. Any attempt to make this problem simple with one probable cause, will always lead to failure. P.s Its bonkers to say the fatima we know today was financed by pilgrims. Cute story though. Despite happening before Estado Novo, fatima grew to what we know today during salazar regime. And it is no coincidence. Its weird because you said it your self. The 3Fs. Its obvious who actualy financed the construction of fatima and why. Very weird thing to say in the middle of the video. The artificial selection theory is strange as well. Portugal colonial strategy, belive it or not, was not comprised by mass emigration but mostly strategic control of trade posts and forts. Not that many people actualy left portugal to the colonies because we were a small country to begin with. Kings banned it because we did not have the manpower to sustain it. In the end i have no idea where the graph at 23:27 came from. Cant find the source. And if the theory was correct, the other colonizers, the ones that ACTUALY extensively used the strategy of colonization of the new world with settlers, such as spain and the UK, would be the ones top of the list as well. The fact brasil, portugal biggest colony, is second on the list, doesnt help this theory either. The idea that the anxious and afraid do not run to the new world is controversial. Staying is often a risk as well, and risk takers is a very broad imprecise definition. But im no psycologist so i will refrain from comenting. Genetics could have a role, but not because of a story of artificial selection during the age of discovery. The entire videos conclusion fails to explain why young people in particular are feeling so anxious. They are not religious (atheism is on the rise), they are not traditional (on average and compared to their parents), they werent alive at the time of political repression, and they are prone to taking more risks than their parents which is why so many emigrate to begin with. Once again, the conclusion tries to make a complex problem simple which leads to a complete failure to seriously discuss this topic."
As a Portuguese person living in Portugal, I can say that the main reason for anxiety here is straightforward and was shockingly underestimated in the video: low income. Many people work hard but don’t earn enough. High taxes and a government that doesn’t always allocate funds effectively add to the problem. As a result, many young people leave Portugal-not because they want to, but to find better salaries. We’re a Western European country, so we have similar mindsets and expectations, but not the same disposable income at the end of the month. The result? Constant stress and worry about money. We could be doing so much better, but high taxation and poor policies are holding us back from having better lives.
tl;dr: Yes, economic stress might be a common reason for anxiety, but our cultural approach to our situations intensify the effects. According to the study "Recent trends in wage inequality from an EU perspective: a tale of two convergences", our purchasing power parity (PPP) (in 2015, was the most recent data I could find) was around the 11th place of the 19 countries covered[1]. That means that despite having at least 8 other countries with more severe economic stress just in the EU, we still scored the highest in the entire world in anxiety. I agree with you that, individually, that might be the most predominant cause for anxiety among us[2], but our culture and mindset still set the way we react to our situations, intensifying our anxiety comparatively to other countries/cultures. [1] The graph I'm drawing from can be easily found by search "EU-distribution-of-employees-by-full-time-equivalent-wage-levels-PPP-euro-2015_fig1_331675100" on Google, as it will be the first webpage by ResearchGate on the feed [2] Searching "Metade das pessoas com salários abaixo de 1.050 euros brutos" will reach a portuguese news article reporting the salary distribution in Portugal, where it confirms that the majority of the population was making less than 1000€ before taxes between 2019 and 2021.
I am Portuguese and I have left the country for this reason. I have grown up feeling anxious about money and still to this day I am anxious. When you grow up in a country where the minimum wage is literally a joke and you can’t even afford to rent a house , how can people not be stressed ?
@rafaelafernandes863 Again, that is true, but it doesn't explain how we've been the most anxious country in the entire world since 1990 (except for 2002 and 2003 when Brazil got first place momentarily). Especially when there are a lot of other countries that have worse economic problems than us.
@@denisofirst6701another thing are the school grades, they are very high if u want to go to university, so u have much pressure to have good grades for have a good life in the future and the final exam is only made for college students
Even though all those things certainly are a huge contribution to the anxiety crisis, the point he made in the video is that Portugal is the MOST anxious country in the world, but it is not even NEAR the countries with the lowest incomes. This means that low income cannot explain it a 100%
I am a Spaniard, and I would like to point out a few things: Spain and Portugal share a history marked by a national feeling of defeat after losing their overseas territories and global influence. Both countries also endured long periods of dictatorship, each lasting about 40 years. These dictatorships were characterized by a strong traditional component that fostered a sense of security and predictability. This stability, although ultimately unsustainable, is something today's youth often look back on nostalgically, unavoidably comparing their lives and prospects to those of their parents. These regimes left a legacy of severe inequalities, especially in areas like housing, social care, and pensions. These are clearly intergenerational. Now, there are a few key differences between Spain and Portugal: Firstly, Franco's dictatorship in Spain was the result of a civil war that literally split the country, and these tensions persist and are visible today. While Spain lost all its overseas territories by 1898, Portugal was drawn into the Colonial Wars during Salazar's regime, which meant 15 years of conflict in Angola, with generations of young men sent to fight and die in Africa for a cause they neither understood nor supported. Many families left the country to avoid having their children sent to Africa. And finally, this brings us to an important cultural distinction: Spain is largely a Mediterranean country, while Portugal is Atlantic from tip to toe. Compare the peaceful and predictable Mare Nostrum with the vast and unknowable ocean, and imagine a father departing from the Atlantic coast. In the Mediterranean, it’s almost certain that he’ll return soon, safe and sound; in the Atlantic, his mere return is uncertain. This sense of longing permeates the Portuguese spirit and even extends to Galicia.
Severe inequalities of pensions and housing? Those were literally enforced by Franco's regime. He was the one who Made most housing in Big cities, trying to make affordable housing, My entire neighbourhood was Made in those times (as most in this zone). Go compare the % of house ownership in Spain vs Germany, You Will be more than surprised. Nowadays theres no possibility to get house as cheap, not Even dreaming about it.
Portuguese dictatorship lasted 60 years not 40. Furthermore, funny you mention spain and the sense of loss of both countries, because the portuguese defeat in morroco in 1579 and death of our young king leading to a personal union with spain led to a chronic and irreversible sense of loss. We lost almost our entire empire in the east during that union period because we were not at war with anyone and all of the sudden we were at war with everyone due to our spanish tie. People still await our king Saint Sebastian to return in a morning of mist.
@@Icenfyre The dictatorship lasted 48 years and not 60 as you said. But I bet there's an explanation coming! Maybe you are talking about the military dictatorship before the Estado-Novo, But they are separate and totally different things!
Regarding Meditarreanean spirit you are wrong, though we are not a mediterranean country, it's widespread along the country (or at least at the south). Portugal considers itself as a Mediterranean country.
Portuguese here. I don't agree with how you cross off things, but some points were valid (especially by Gustavo, he understands anxiety as a biological mechanic defense for survival, something we've forgotten in the modern age). That being said, here's my two cents: 4:49 Portugal is refered as "the eastern european in the west". There's also the saying "Portugal is behind 50 years". There's sort of a pressure for Portugal to be at the level of the rest of the west, but we're not and we're always the little brother chasing the big brother. As a nation, we feel pressure to compesate those 50 years, in other words, we're constantly chasing this goal that in terms of time is not possible cause our dictatorship lasted longer than everyone else - this creates anxiety 5:30 There's definitely trauma from the dictatorship/police in the past. There's also abuse, but as you find out - we're traditional/conservative/quiet - so people don't speak about it - here a lot of things are still seen as taboo - not speaking creates anxiety 6:45 Agree, but I'll say it differently - older generations had it rough, but they also had their sh** together, they had to grow fast, they often had kids by 18 - and so there's still a pressure of "I HAVE TO" have kids by a certain age, to be married by X age, to have a degree by X age, to have a house X age - this creates anxiety 7:57 Agree, I often tell foreigners that portuguese culture is conformist - I think this is also a reason why we have a relatively safe country, conformists don't like confrontation 10:22 Don't understand how loneliness was cross off due to Fátima, but it's a thing, there's even YT channel (Andamente) that shows examples of loneliness in Portugal 10:42 Don't know why you associated social pressure solely to religion, but there's a lot of it here. Portugal is refered by some as "Japan of Europe" due to historical-geographical similarities, but also due culture/values. Like Japan, there's pressure from family for you to do well in everything. Expected to do well in school, because (grand)parents didn't have that opportunity, to be anything else than a farmer/fisherman. Expected to pursue things they couldn't - so a lot of people go for anxiety careers instead of focusing on traditional values, such as building a family. So it's almost opposite of what was said - yes we are traditional, but there's pressure to go for things that weren't possible and that are more valued now - career, prestige, status, etc. This is why the percentage is so high at 1:33 10:45 Yes we're family-oriented, but isolation can happen due to that - when families gather, the older generations tend to "demand" for you to follow a certain way - that can create rifts between people/isolation - it's not fair to make a person do the things you wish you did - this creates anxiety I wanna add something: historically, we were farmers/fisherman, living by nature - afte dictatorship, waves of people went from rural to cities - studies who urban environments are more stressful. That, together with new technology - bad anxiety
Fascinating points that make me think about my own home in the most isolated part of the continental US (Eastern MT, NE WY, Western ND, NW SD). We have the highest suicide rate which is often chalked up to our winters, but there are many other factors. We’ve identified many but the fact is we are Americans but we don’t live like the rest of the country. We aren’t living traditionally, even the native ppl live modern, but we don’t look like what people think the northern US looks like. Open scrub prairie, not mountains or rolling green hills; and so few people that some tourists get scared. We are very anxious about everything, it’s hard to do well financially here, we know the rest of the country, even the more populated parts of our own states, forget we exist and roll their eyes at us. We can’t compete nationally, and everyone ignores us. We are more family oriented that most areas, with all the good & bad that brings. We feel caught between the centuries, we have barely caught up to 90s America! So many, many who can leave, do! But even living 300 miles from my home town, my old network is strong here. People who were big kids when I was little & babysat or helped with clubs now help each other promote their businesses or get opportunities. The same side characters weave their way through your life and it’s not just “your own story” with different characters at different times, it’s “our story,” even tho I am extremely enraged at most of em right now (politics), they are still close to family simply because we shared the same air growing up. It’s awful & its amazing but boy do we have mental health problems
I think your comment complements the video point. What this video did not addressed well enough for Portuguese do not feel hurt is that he was trying to find the different aspect specific to Portuguese. What you mention is important and relevant but is not unique to us. The saudade part and "genetic" part yes.
I'm a 42 year old Portuguese and it has never occurred to me that artificial selection could be the root of our chronic aversion to risk, thus exacerbating our anxiety even more... It makes a lot of sense now. Thank you for your video!
This video is many inaccuracies and many leaps of faith. It's more of a brainstorming than factual conclusions. The methods of measuring anxiety weren't even considered.
How about the ones that stayed were the ones the fought to keep independence of the country; that were fighting the Napolean Army when the King decide to do a Fuck All and run away to Rio; or the ones that fought in 3 different fronts in African while resisting a fucking dictatorship; or the ones that fought in the 1st World War in the toughest fronts. You enjoy smell any fart a fucking foreign gives it to you, don't you?
@@antoniobento2105 They ask people if they're anxious. Maybe the Portuguese have been under the propaganda of a certain group for much longer than everyone else.
@@tuckerbugeater Yes. That should have been talked about. Language might be a factor also. "Anxious" in Portuguese is not seen as "anxiety" as in the condition, it can be lighter. There are so many factors that can come into play.
The hypothesis of artificial selection is a fascinating one. As a Portuguese expat that has lived in the UK for more than 15 years, I am constantly finding that I left Portugal but Portugal never left me, quite the opposite. Abroad, the feeling of saudade just becomes more acute, more tangible. Being Portuguese is both a curse and a blessing, and I deeply love all that that entails. I cried at the end of the video, I could not avoid it, maybe it is in my genes...
So did I.. I share your feelings I've never understood why I felt this way even though I was born in Luxembourg. My family was very traditional and I guess the "bad" genes are deep inside of us
My family came to the US & I was born here. But whenever I visit the island (Terceira) where they came from I feel like I am home. Those 🇵🇹roots run deep!
German, married to a Portuguese wife and over twenty years of going there regularly. While being far from fluent in Portuguese, Fado goes straight to my emotions, especially when experienced live. I completely feel you.
@@GuisantzDisagree. Park Chung He of S Korea would be described as a "fascist" same goes for the Kuomintang party of Taiwan or even the People's Action Party of Singapore, or even Mustafa Kemal of Turkey. But they have very little in common nor do they completely satisfy all the tenets of fascism. All of them had different priorities and not all of them wanted to carry out mass genocide on industrial scale or engage in revanchism(except for maybe Kuomintang who lost the mainland).
@@hhbattery4746 I guess Mussolini didn’t persecute your family, oppress your people and tried to eradicate your language and identity, brainwashed fascist.
As a portuguese teacher ss s foreign language, I find this video quite interesting, and I'm definitely going to share this with my students. Fun fact: maybe you know because you speak Portuguese (and not bad, congratulations by the way), but do you know how do we, Portuguese people, say that we are looking forward to something? For example, to say something like "I'm looking forward to the weekend", we say: Estou ansiosa pelo fim de semana 🤣🤣🤣
Wow I never thought of that ahahha For English speakers, we say directly translated: "I'm anxious for this weekend" to say we look forward to the weekend
5:19: I don’t agree with the items you cross off in your list… we work long extra hours in private companies. They are just undeclared and not paid. (I’m Portuguese). We are always under financial stress. (The crisis and Troika hit us hard) even if we are finally doing ok in our lives, financial stress haunts you forever.
@@Feeshermon well in portugal have a roof its 80% of the budget sooo its a stress to make the others 20% reach to all or you live with ur fathers and i believe thats a stress too xD
This is the best, most respectful picture I've seen of the Portuguese soul and way of being. I know your premise was different but on the way to answer your question, you captured the perfect feeling of being Portuguese. Unfortunately I'm part of the 10% who left after the financial crisis but my soul remains Portuguese and I live my life longing for my country, hoping that one day I'll return for good. Thank you for such a wonderful video!
Thank you for highlighting the anxiety many face in countries like Portugal, where history often shapes collective mindsets. The idea that success is tied to leaving can create a silent, persistent pressure that goes unaddressed. This anxiety isn't just individual; it reflects a generational pattern of feeling that fulfillment or success lies somewhere else. It’s powerful to see this conversation open up, allowing more people to understand the weight of inherited beliefs and start to question if they truly serve us. Grateful for this deeper dive, Mark!
As a Portuguese woman, I believe that Portuguese anxiety comes above all from the (historical) internalization from which, to succeed, we have to leave, because our land or country is not abundant enough. I think this habit of leaving has also prevented us from developing the country into the image of what we would like it to be. Thanks for the good content!
This video is bs with all the causas of anxiety this guy is like yap its ganetics even tho we cant afford our own house have massed up parents a whole generation fought in a war 50 year ago and we go out to lisbon we only see people from other countries living here and fado is not even popular today. the reason for the high anxiety its a mix of all the causas of anxiety mixed together
Toda a gente q conheço equaciona sair do país com sucesso. Até os que falharam piram se eventualmente para encontrar sucesso. Cá não dá. Portugal é um retângulo tal como uma porta e tal como um caixão
Yeah and Portuguese has their own special word for it too: Saudade. But I always found that to be experienced more personally and less nationally. But what do I know, I was only there fleetingly.
I'm Portuguese, deeply entangled with nostalgia, but with such desire to break through the world (gen z). I'm Portuguese and fighting my own heritage, because living by it is endlessly overwhelming, which is twice as painful.
As 34y old portuguese i always thought myself as highly anxious, it was part of my identity, until I moved to sri lanka as digital nomad for a couple months, experiencing another culture, specially one rooted in Buddhism and one that has slow living at its core, forced me to see that it wasn't just me, everyone in Portugal was very anxious. Thanks for the vid, it was a rare treat to see this in your newseltter
Tenho 20 anos e passei 1 mês na Polónia e apercebi-me do mesmo, imagino que quanto mais tempo aguentar cá no nosso belíssimo país, mais ansioso vou ficar.
@@supernarfi i guess depende do sítio, estive em wroclaw mas mais perto de Długopole Górne, entao era bastante remoto e pacifico vou ser sincero. Acredito que equale a viver em Évora ou algo assim
@@goncalomiguel4687 eu morei 6 meses numa vila minúscula chamada Sokołowsko, na fronteira com a República Checa, na mesma voividia que Wrocław. Era uma vila no meio das montanhas a 30min de qualquer cidade, aquilo era só floresta, viados e raposas. Os outros 6 meses morei em Cracovia. Mesmo no centro. Viajei pela Polónia toda, passei muito tempo em Wrocław. A minha experiência foi profundamente horrível em todo o lado.
Great piece, thank you and congratulations! 👏🏻 As a Portuguese person who has lived outside the country for most of my life, I resonate deeply with your documentary. I absolutely love my homeland, especially the way you beautifully describe ‘beaches and cappuccinos (galão) on cobbled streets.’ However, I have often struggled with the mentality of many of my peers. This divide within Portuguese society is poignantly illustrated in Luis de Camões' poetry in 'The Lusiadas,' particularly through the character of 'o velho do Restelo,' who implores those setting sail with Vasco da Gama to reconsider due to the inherent dangers. I have always seen myself as a discoverer, often critical of the ‘velhos do Restelo’ around me. Your documentary brings me a sense of peace. It’s thanks to those ‘velhos do Restelo’ left behind that Portugal remains a predictable, peaceful, and culturally rich country, always providing me with a safe harbor when I return.
As a portuguese, there's something I'd like to add to the discussion. Something that only popped in my mind whilst watching this video. Since we were kids we all heard stories about the grandiosity of our nation back from when we were one of the most powerful empires in the world. Even though we don't think about it actively, I suppose that left us with a feeling of failure, maybe. Our pinnacle has long passed. And, if you take into account the social-economic setting of our country nowadays, you'll see that as much as we want to achieve that grandiosity again, it's borderline impossible.
@@MlleKnobs If that were to be the case, than the british and spanish people would be completely depressed - not to mention the turkish or the greek. They’re are all very proud of their past achievements, nonetheless…
I’ve moved from Russia to Portugal and honestly haven’t really felt this anxiety yet. At least the Portuguese have the luxury of living in a country that isn’t actively trying to kill or jail them. But I can definitely feel like there's some atmosphere of negligence, especially in regards to public services and so on - which ironically enough reminds me a lot of Russia or Eastern Europe in general.
Same here, moved from Eastern Europe and I've seen and felt this anxiety first-hand when the economic crisis in the early 2010's hit the country pretty bad, so to me it always felt like this anxiety stemmed primarily from economical insecurity. But I can definitely say Portugal is far much better attitude-wise, back in my homeland the way to combat such things was for the most part to hit the bottle and turn a blind eye to the corruption.
Being a person who struggles with Anxiety ever since COVID and has a history of anxiety on his family, the end brings me to tears. It was very beautiful, and I thank you.
I'm portuguese, 54 yo, never lived abroad and i'never been anxious. My 2 cents: The thesis that less anxiety = more inclination to leave the country is interesting but not convincing, since is a known fact that most of the times portuguese seafaring and emigration were not driven by boldness or an adventurous spirit , but by economic desperation or pure coercion (even in the 18th century, the King could forcibly recruit young men from the villages to serve in the Navy on ships to the Indies or Brazil, and most of those young peasants never returned home). In short, the Portuguese who spread their genes abroad were not necessarily the less anxious, but the most pressured by sheer necessity. The captains of the ships were certainly daring and brave,, but these tended to return to their homeland and leave descendants here (if they hadn't taken care of that before leaving). They didn't really have the spirit of the emigrant, as the poor from northern Portugal who for centuries left forever as sailors, settlers and soldiers. I believe that the high prevalence of anxiety in Portugal has mostly to do with economic issues and social pressure. Most Portuguese people work eight hours a day , spending at least two more hours commuting, which means stress, and this for a pay much lower than that of any worker in Western Europe, with whom the Portuguese, because of their geographical and cultural proximity, must COMPARE themselves. Besides, the portugueses have to deal with a high time-consumming level of bureaucracy, and all manner of administrative inefficiencies, which of course means more stress and anxiety. And last but not least, our health system is absurdly trained to hand out anxiolytics as if they were sweets, which might make us wonder whether anxiety is being over-diagnosed in Portugal.
To your last point, I was waiting for Mark to address the question of whether it's just more socially acceptable to talk about anxiety and get diagnosed in Portugal compared with the rest of the western world where mental health is often hidden. But he never did.
I don't understand the difficulty in understanding that if other countries also have economic problems and there is not as much anxiety and depression, it is obvious that it goes back to the mentality. The mentality of the Portuguese is small, they do not like to take risks. That is why you see them voting for the same people and saying the same things about politicians for 40 years in a row. If the Portuguese want change, they have to do it, but as he said, the brave and fearless are not left here, so we are educated by people who think that this is fine and we are just going to complain about everything and not change anything until we die.
And yet, a lot of those who were poor and starving never left. I do think that emmigrating requires a certain level of courage, even if they were compelled to emmigrate by external forces.
On a trip to Lisbon, a tut tut driver told me that the rent costs as a % of monthly earnings were the highest in Europe. I'd say that's a very important factor. I booked the city break through a travel agents but the room was basically an air b&b style apartment. The locals are being priced out by tourists.
And the ones stating "its the economy" are simply wrong. Its corruption (the main one), gentrification, low salary, poor working policies. Its no surprise they call Portugal "the India of Europe" because we give excellent work for too little money and people are realizing that and deciding to emigrate. And the governmenr is fucking dumb because it is slowly letting super qualified individuals flee the country and instead get rich somewhere abroud while also giving money to another country.
Bear in mind that it is the locals who are setting the prices for the tourists. So they are being priced out by themselves, not by tourists. Economics are a factor, for sure, but having been here for 5yrs, I would say it is MUCH deeper ingrained than that, because many poor countries don't have this exceptionally heavy, sad feel to them
@@simplylive2466 I think it has to do a lot with corruption too. As for the economy, the problem is that no matter how hard working we may be most of it consists of services, mainly food - no wonder why we have so many caffes here - unlike other countries that rely more on industry. And yes, I would be way less stressed rn if I didn't have to share the flat I live in with 4 different random ppl. My bedroom is a cubicle with zero noise isolation, I can hear everything they do. Its terrible.
Thank you. I'm so thankful for the actual Portuguese people commenting. It's like theres a video from nonportuguese saying "culture" "genetics" when nearly all the actual Portuguese people commenting are saying, nah it's economic conditions
@@MaidikIslarjthe "anxiety list" is suspect it's not scientific or valid. How do they define "anxiety"? There is no valid "list" so the "basis" of this video is flawed
@@tw8464 There's no objective list but there are approximations and metrics like the one's referred to in the video. It's obvious there's something quite peculiar about our outlook on life
Portuguese here. Who has had social anxiety affect his life massively. This made a lot of sense to me.. I feel like I may have left this video understanding a little more myself. I appreciate your words in the last bit of the video. Together with Carminho's beautiful voice and lyrics, tears came to my eyes. Thank you Edit: this may vary from person to person, but Portugal's mentality and the way people are so judgemental, also contributed to whatever i battle with in my little brain. Thus, my goal and dream is to leave one day. Because all my life I felt like I'd be happier and more free somewhere else. This may contradict with what has been theorised in the video, but then again, there are all sorts of different anxieties.
Thanks, Mark. I enjoyed your refreshing and bold analysis. As a psychiatrist myself, I'm about to match your boldness with another hypothesis that perhaps the Portuguese enjoy being anxious and miserable. Hear me out. It isn't unusual for cultures to embrace or even glorify certain behaviours that appear dysfunctional from the outside. The Americans, for example, are fanatics of freedom, guns, and war. This is tied to their desperate attempt to escape English rule since the founding of their republic. The Chinese are highly frugal, most probably due to the famine that killed millions during the revolution. And then there are the Portuguese, who are exquisitely nostalgic due to their seafaring history that saw loved ones depart. I loved the Fado music, by the way. Mm... fills me with sadness and longing. Perhaps it is an unfortunate accident that the feelings of the Portuguese were partially or wholly captured by the DSM-5, which gave it a name called "generalized anxiety disorder". The name itself is pretty, well, general. This raises the importance of perspective and the dangers of pathologizing something that has a perfectly good explanation for. Drapetomania, for example, was a disorder that was proposed to describe people fleeing captivity. Enslavers once believed that slavery improved the lives of their slaves and that to flee was utterly crazy! That said, cultures shouldn't be immune to criticism just because of historical precedents. Through time and generations, people will evolve and adapt. This explains why Portugal overthrew their dictator in exchange for a democratic government. My Chinese parents, for example, love a good bargain and are willing to be conniving to achieve that end. Yet, they are never happy with their purchases because of a rampant paranoia of being short-changed (aka the scarcity mindset). I believe in paying people a fair price and being satisfied with what you have, even though this notion is totally foreign to them. I imagine that for some (not all) Portuguese, the feeling of Saudade, although painful, is worth cherishing. Forcing them into therapy would be as ridiculous as forcing my paranoid parents into treatment. They deserve help like everyone else, but they also need to consider that getting help might erode their identity as Portuguese. Most people will put up with A LOT of misery for the sake of preserving their identity because there is no pain more unbearable than not knowing who you are. Food for thought. Keep em videos coming! Edit: sorry, someone mentioned that the Portuguese didn't overthrow their dictator. He died of natural causes. But it was telling that they went with a democratic government after.
In Eckhart Tolle's impenetrable words, they become self-identified with the pain body. It's not that they like it, per se, rather it is what they know and have settled into. It is what the they expect, so it becomes their normal.
We have to be very careful on how we use history to explain psychology, as our views of history tend to be overly reductive and specially when we talk about feelings or culture. Salazar's regime glorified Fado, Descobrimentos, Fátima so as to have a stronger national identity than we actually did. I agree with most of your points but disagree with is your framing of "getting help might erode their identity". Putting up with misery for the sake of preserving your identity is a failure to acknowledge your thought patterns and a failure to grow and be open minded beyond what you were born into. I believe we shouldn't be so tied to our identities to such an extent, specially not our national ones. It's perfectly possible to love Fado and saudade without the anxiety aspect of it to impact you negatively. This isn't to say that DSM and the current psychology system may fail to acknowledge this and over diagnose or even overmedicate. These are the first things you should look into when you see an outlier country and Mark seems to have ignored it. More diagnosing tends to be hugely related to the access to mental health than before. I even argue that studies like the percentage of anxious college students also reflect on culture and how we use language. I think we portuguese use anxiety and depression to describe how we feel a lot more than other countries. Even when it's mild anxiety.
Just a small, but maybe important, detail: we didn't overthrow our dictator. He died in 1970. The years that followed his death were somewhat chaotic and culminated on a revolution on the 25th of April 1974, which was a pacifist one (also called the Carnation Revolution). Almost no shots were fired during that day.
Caro Mark obrigado pelo seu vídeo. Gostei muito. Sou Português e também sofro de ansiedade. Achei muito interessante a sua contextualização genética relativamente aos tempos históricos das nossas descobertas (ou achamentos!) nos anos 1500. Mas sem dúvida que actualmente as questões financeiras têm um grande peso nas famílias e nos jovens que se querem autonomizar e serem independentes dos seus pais e não conseguem. Continuação de bom trabalho.
Hello! I left Portugal 10 years ago and I still struggle with anxiety. 😅 I think economically Portugal is not a good country. If you are an adult, single and with a minimum wage, you can't leave you parents house. And another thing that was not talked about. Until early 2000's adults educated kids with violence, even your teachers could hit you. Kids were growing up with fear disguise as respect for adults. Also, Portuguese parents are very protective (probably because of their own anxiety) they will tell you all the things that can go wrong, and not let you live/experience it(of course not everyone is like that but many are) I think that helps a lot with anxiety.
@@sandrotravessa2284 well portugal reached a point that not even a room is doable. You can still rent a room in London as you are starting your career
It was the same here in the US through the 1980s. Our teachers spanked us and paddled us. Nuns and priests probably did this more often. Corporal punishment in schools is still legal in Texas.
There was war 50-55 years ago, Ultramar, at the former-colonies, which fought for independence. Wasn't a war at home, but many lost loved ones, got PTSD, lost everything became refugees in Portugal with all the associated pressure for housing & jobs + plus a bit of cultural clash.
You are right, those who returned to Portugal in the 75s suffered a cultural shock as Portugal in the rural interior lived in the Middle Ages. There was no modern road network and the towns and villages were very backward. Most people emigrated to the suburbs of Paris (Vaudeville), or Germany and subjected themselves to a miserable life. Another thing that surprised us, returned, was the illiteracy of the majority of the population on the continent. Salazar prevented portuguese people living in former colonies from sending their financial income to Portugal. Ps: most Portuguese from Angola and Mozambique in 1975 went to Brazil and South Africa as Portugal was very poor.
That war compared to so many wars was meh! 10000 kia in 15 years, it's less than a week in e.g. russian-ukraine war. And talking about trauma, those russians' hostory is basically 100% trauma, and yet we're #1 in anxiety. With that said, it wasn't the ultramar war that made us who we are and definitely not #1 in anxiety.
I retired to Portugal from the US years ago. Your video explains a lot. Very interesting. That being said, I love living here, love the people, and prefer Portuguese anxiety to the festering anger I saw building among Americans. Here there is no road rage, no screaming at service workers, very little complaining about long lines or everyday minor mistakes, and minimal crime. The complaints are usually about the politicians, but that has always been Europe. Very mellow for an anxious nation.
But you are wrong. I´m portuguese and our anxiety comes from a feeling of constant irrational fear. Largely because of the dictatorship in which the people of the past lived. The new generations of portuguese people continue to live in fear because of the education that they receive from their parents, even if unconsciously! The fact that we don't complain about the services, the services (like americans), already denotes a huge lack of courage, as we always complain about things that we cannot change immediately or perhaps we will never be able to change. The political scenario doesn't change just with conversations and complaints in the coffee shop, change by doing something everyday. And politics is everything, including the way we are served in all types of services. There is still a dictatorial culture in Portugal in all spheres without anyone noticing! And portuguese people only know how to live if someone knows how to give orders.
I'm glad you're enjoying your retirement here, but "Here there is no road rage, no screaming at service workers, very little complaining about long lines" makes me think that you've moved to a completely different country than the Portugal I've lived in my entire life. Either that or you've never spent a significant amount of time in the city, staying only in smaller more secluded areas.
There was minimal crime until mass imigration started a few years ago. It's still generally safe but I'm afraid in 10 years it's not going to be like this anymore.
Amazing!! Portuguese national and resident, I studied history and am a fanatic for social dinamics and have recently decided to indulge more into psychology. And this is an amazing and beautifull autopsy of the portuguese spirit, tradition and psychology. That beauty of the pain of what as gone by is very much a feeling people live with here. I do love my country and it's history and the beauty of this documentary brings me to tears as I am also fighting with mental health issues. And in a sense your words are inspiring me to acknowledge what has been given to me by those who came before me but also remenber the courage of those who left, of those who were bold and become an adventurer like my forefathers and not let the burden of those long past keep me down. Thank you very much for this. P.S: you gained a new subscriber
I hear in your words and also in Mark's (but he didn't address it explicitly) that mental health is shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, individually, societally and nationally. If we can reevaluate those stories and find in them more compassion, more hope, and more empowerment, then I believe we can heal our mental health.
This video was very interesting because it presents a hypothesis that goes beyond the usual cliches and stereotypes that can be easily disproved. It is also great to see comments challenging this and raising other questions, such as the potential effect of over diagnosing mental illnesses or even the way the original study was conducted, despite the multitude of comments reverting back to the old tropes and cliches. Hopefully it can stir up a deeper discussion around this subject.
Hello, I'm one of those Portuguese who emigrated (Dublin, Ireland) for a better life. I would say that rather than looking at the past, the biggest problem comes when facing the present and the hope for the future, how the trends (specially economical) make the problem of anxiety in portuguese. In the end of the 80s, 90s and beginning of 2000s Portugal was booming in terms of economy, it was a country in which the prices were relatively low, high availability of food and the wages were just a bit below, on average, from what they are now. However, then since it became such a good destination for holidays and also to live, more and more immigration specially from eastern europeans and PALOPs, which was a good thing. The problems started with the currency change to Euro. Portugal never recovered from that change and it went downhill ever since. Tying that with increasing corruption, increasing lack of transparency in the government and massive bloating of public services in general (in the name of trying to improve the services by hiring more employees and of trying to convince the tax payer that some new public services were essential, or at least "nice to have") the result was the following: - The average person living in Portugal has to pay from his taxes public services he will probably never use and never asked for, a public service where people managing it were hired from being friends with politician x and y so they get massive wage and don't know how to do their job and also how to do it efficiently (since its public the state can give as much as asked). What did that lead to: Increase taxes, add new taxes to steal more from the tax payer and fund the things the tax payer didnt ask to have. This is the cycle the country is having for the last 20 years and the trend is shown on the economic stats of the country: 3 times bankrupt, debt over 100% of GDP, stagnated GDP which when looking at inflation % (which is higher every year than GPD growth (if and when it grows)), means that people are losing money. So wages are stagnated, prices increase and most of that increase ends up in the state, since the tax % already increase since its % of the price with inflation, but also with those increases in tax mentioned above to "pay the public services" So, the situation gets worse every year, what also gets worse? Young people like me graduate from school and university ( I have masters in software engineering) and then look at the market in Portugal for working in IT. Wages of below 1k as junior in IT after tax. Rents of almost that value for a small room in Porto or Lisbon (so your wage will afford you a tiny bedroom and doesnt even make you afford to do shopping for groceries). What do you do when you see countries like Ireland, Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland offering 3-6k wage? You move. What happens? Young people move out, elderly stay since they have their house, they have their retirement. However, less tax payers so less money for those public services you remember from previously on my comment that nobody other than the politician and their friends asked for? Guess what they do - increase more the taxes. Oh and increases in minimum wage to level down every job to the point that Portugal is one of the countries with the least gap between minimum wage and average wage in Europe. It got to the point where portuguese people never mention average wage. They compare countries by minimum wage, because they are automatically thinking that people in other countries also earn minimum wage. That's the real reason for the increased anxiety in Portugal! It's watching our fathers being able to afford a lot more than us when they were our age, they raise us thinking that now its so much better than before and so much easier to live. It's not knowing anymore if you're able to afford to study and after finishing if you can get a job somewhere and if that job is good enough to survive, not to mention have a life. Very little to do with the most distant past. Portugal actually didnt have wars like other countries, the last battles it had was when the french revolution tried to conquer Portugal and failed 3 times. Other than that, Portuguese people were involved in WW1 and in Colonial war but all outside Portugal so the only casualties were the men coming back or the ones who didnt come back home, but far from what France, Germany and specially Eastern Europe experienced, men women and children, bombs going off near their houses, war tanks, gulags, gas chambers, losing your house, possessions Portugal didnt have.
I'm a 39 year old Portuguese emigrant (living in Germany for the last 8 years).Despite the difficult conditions of our economy, it made no sense to me how anxious people were in Portugal (me included), especially when compared to people from other countries in similar circumstances. Thank you for putting it into words.
Do you find that working for a German organization/corporation makes you less anxious? I'm curious. I suspect the answer is 'yes'. My thesis is that one of the causes of the endemic Portuguese anxiety is the lack of organization - societal, corporate, governmental.
@@Dwer172 I feel the same, the less capable stay behind and so we have very incompetent managers across the board. It's really stressful trying to keep up when things aren't put in place in a way that fosters success
I am from Arkansas. My family is from rural Arkansas and rural Oklahoma. I really relate to these stories and this low level constant anxiety and pressure to conform. The fear to take any risks was distilled into me before I could speak. Looking at my parents lives and their parents lives I see that this sit still be quiet mentality was adaptive for their lives. Especially for the women who went through constant sexual and domestic abuse. This fear was passed to me and made me vulnerable and dependent on others. I eventually went through the same abuse as my mother and my mother's mother. Constant low level fear and nightmares paralyze independence and risk taking. I want my life to be different from their's but the instinct to prepare for the worst is the main driving force despite my constant desire for an interesting and fulfilling life full of travel and novel experiences. Fear keeps people dependent. Fear is control. When you're constantly in fear how can you take risks?
Dv is still a problem in Portugal, the pressure to conform especially from old people is still quite big at most they become apathetic with sometimes making remarks about it😂 Women especially have it harder because they seem to not do anything right in the eyes of elders, they carry a reputation to some Portuguese and foreigners men for been difficult even compared to Spaniards
@@santostv. good we need more shame. It's rather odd he didn't talk about Portugal to be the only country to decriminalize drugs? Many countries have similar economies to Portugal. This sounds like it was engineered using media and propaganda.
I'm Portuguese-- "The fear to take any risks was distilled into me before I could speak. Looking at my parents lives and their parents lives I see that this sit still be quiet mentality was adaptive for their lives." - this is a fantastic summary of how I grew up
well Portugal did experience major wars in the last 100 years (maybe not world war 2), but wars that had a severe effect on the country and it's people, the colonial wars. It's very rare to find a male over 60 years that does not have trauma with the brutal colonial wars faugth during salazar's regime. Not only was the portuguese goverment spending 20% of its GDP fighting in angola mozambique and guinea, but also sending all of its youth to fight in africa.
Thank you for saying that. My dad was one of them. The funny thing is he's extremely anxious but also a risk taker. I don't think these are mutually exclusive traits.
Portugal didn't experience any war since the French revolution tries. Portuguese people were involved in wars but the land didnt get affected. The eastern european countries have experienced both WW2 and communism until the 90s including wars for independence from the USSR (which people died, lost houses, lost everything they had including lands, farms, food) and have way less anxiety than Portugal. So that argument is not the best at all.
Edit: I wrote the comment below midway through the video. I just finished it and the genetics cause blew my mind 🤯 so interesting! Mark, what would it take for you to do world psychology videos on many more countries? I'm HERE for it! 🙌 💯 Original comment 👇 Thank you, Mark! 🙏 I'm really enjoying these inquiries into the psychology of different nations, loved the one on South Korea as well - hope to see more!
Portuguese here and I wanna get out. Without counting with the weather this is a shithole. No opportunities. You're disposable. Small minded. The problem isn't the country itself the problem are the people. Populaçao do cala e come do crl. Compared to the smaller colder countries we could be like them and we are not cuz of our shitty mentality. If this shithole of a country would have gotten wiped out of the map no one would even realize since it's not worth anything. If I could change anything it would be nationality. My ancestors were from Germany/Scandinavia not long ago what the fuck am I doing here. They made a poor decision.
Lack of sleep plays a role. The Portuguese drink coffee all the time, the main TV shows finish at midnight, and young generations go out clubbing on weekends from midnight to 6am, yes, 6am!!! Note Fado was not a mainstream music genre 100 years ago. Was actually something only played at brothels or tascas. Traditional popular Portuguese music is actually very lively and happy (Rancho). Agree with the fact that the 20% most risk takers of every generation move abroad.
Being portuguse it's amazing to see such a nice report! This documentary should be seen all over Portugal Muito obrigado, for the contribution in our lifes!
As a 25 year old Portuguese, I feel this deeply! I've been following the pull to leave & search for a better environment since I'm 19. It's hard, the believe system in Portugal is strong and being influenced by conformity of friends and family very real. The fear of risks daunting to the ones that love us and following the norm applauded by all. I always felt deeply misunderstood & trapped with this mentality. The people think I am crazy and immature//too idealistic for wanting to strive for a better life in terms of work-life balance, as well as a friendly relaxed culture. When I was in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, that's when it strike me. I am not crazy, it's the culture that doesn't even think other ways of life are possible. In the 2 countries I could see that they live normally what I always dreamed of - no chronic anxiety. Thank you for connecting the dots Mark, this is important 🙏🏻
Hey Mark. WOW. This was a remarkably serendipitous experience, both coming across and watching this analytical documentary. Maybe big thanks to current algorithmic determination, but oddly this video essay keys into so many interests I have on a personal level. I'm an ex-pat New York musician who lives in Norway, and who has had a fascination with Portuguese culture and history since I first went there in 2006 to play a small tour (which was the first of 7). I love the people, the language, the music, the food, the (universally humanistic) concept of saudade, and how all of these elements and many more are woven together in that beautiful land like an intricate, complex fabric. All that aside, I am also someone who has struggled with both chronic anxiety (thank you NYC on and after 9/11) and the recovery from addictive behaviors (alcohol). As a personal release, I have been privileged to have my music keep me afloat, songs which tend to be somewhat dark and melancholic. Hence my attraction to both Fado and the word saudade. I once read someplace that saudade can be best described as "the love that remains," which makes total sense to me. I perceive saudade to be that bittersweet slightly good and warm sensation while experiencing a melancholic, nostalgic feeling of sorrow, often combined with a sense of loss. Haha. It's indeed a difficult word to articulate into English, but as many Portuguese speakers seem to attest to, it's indeed very Portuguese, but also a very irate, universal human sentiment. (As a musician, I was so impacted by the word and the concept behind the word that I even decided to title an LP I released back in 2014 as "Saudade.") Anyway, watching this video was an unexpectedly delightful and gratifying ride which touched on so many things dear and personal to me, and yet also upon so much more. Although I have been pretty familiar with your books and your channel, I simply didn't see this one coming. Lots for people to discuss, agree and disagree on here, but at least this kind of debate is what we humans should cherish. Thanks for giving us all so much to contemplate with your research. I really, really enjoyed watching this one.
As an Italian who has been living in Portugal for 10 years, this makes a lot of sense. I’ve never met so many people under anti-depression meds as in Portugal.
"Saudade" is a complex feeling of nostalgia, longing, and melancholy that is deeply embedded in Portuguese culture. When people experience saudade, they may find themselves comparing their current situation with a romanticized version of the past or with an idealized vision of what they wish life could be. This tendency can also extend to comparing themselves with others or with cultural ideals of success, happiness, and fulfillment on other countries. Over time, this can amplify feelings of dissatisfaction or reinforce a perception of "something missing." Moreover, Portuguese culture is rich with historical achievements and a deep connection to past accomplishments, from the Age of Exploration to unique artistic traditions. This cultural pride can subtly encourage comparisons, as people measure their current realities against these past triumphs or imagined ideals. In essence, saudade creates an emotional space where comparison is almost inevitable, as it invites people to reflect on what they’ve lost, missed, or wished for-sometimes fostering a quiet, introspective and melancholic form of comparison that is central to Portuguese identity, IMO.
That's a lot of talk to put the cows to sleep. Unless you are from the Lisbon region, no one identifies with the description you gave. The people of Lisbon live like foreigners in their own land, far from Portuguese culture, which is why they are sour and melancholic. The anxieties of the Portuguese people lie in excessive working hours, low wages and lack of time to spend with family and friends. Especially now that Portugal is a country of tourism and shopping centers, most Portuguese people have completely insane working hours and so it is impossible for them to get together with family and friends, as no one's days off coincide with each other. This creates a lot of anxiety among the population as we are a very social people. We are tired of being exploited serving the public and having to postpone our lives forever, we don't have money to leave our parents home. That's it.
@@Minu-lv1rk it doesnt make any sense when you look at the data. Futhermore the second most anxious country in the world according to the video is Brazil, a former portuguese colony. It would be interesting to have studies in other former colonies to know if they are as anxious.
FINANCIAL STRES!!! You can't risk much while you're barely making ends meet! This is really what I see in people around me while actually living here. You ruled it out based on income, but I completely disagree. The okay-ish apartment rent: 900€, most of jobs: 1000€ (the minimal wage 820€). This alone is stressful AF. The prices are rising, because there is always someone coming from other economies, thinking that paying this amount is cheap. Apart from that, the nicest apartments, with some room and green spaces are eaten by the Airbnb market. Plus, because of tourism, the city centers became unhabitalbe; there's no businesses left that is fulfilling an actual human need apart from the touristic ones. White light souvenir stores with cheap products and the extravagant world of sardines.
Yeah , that explanation of the psychiatrist about Portugal’s anxiety problem portrayed in this video , sounds very logical , simple and plausible. This video delved very deeply into a deep subject .
Oh Mark, economic issues play a huge role in the way we feel, especially the young people. Although the data seems to show an OK situation regarding that, the truth is that we are poorer and have no future perspectives. Many young people just can+t leave their parent's house until they're 30 or more. We cannot afford housing. The prices have risen but our salaries not so much. Lisbon has the most functional homeless people (people who sleep on the streets and then go to work because they can't afford a place to stay; full families). I loved all the other points you made; it was really clever, but I do think that economic instability might be the main reason for our poor mental health.
Incredibly interesting! I am Polish, my husband is Portuguese. Our countries are so similar in many ways, but so different at the same time. I never understood why despite the history of all the wars and communism my country is much more positive and looking outward. This would make a lot of sense !
The point was that it was mostly the wars in Europe and the communist rule that took care of the genetic cleanup. Also the hope for the better and continued resistance and fight for freedom build up more positive forward looking attitudes. We didn’t need to leave, that’s why whilst the culture is similar, the mentality of people and attitudes are different.
I'm a portuguese expat, left in 2018. Saudade is a defining word in my life for sure, this documentary of course brought me to tears as I see my beautiful country that I left behind, and the little hope that I will ever return for good. From my experience, those who stay are left to battle a sense of hopelessness and hardship regarding the future of our nation, while those of us who leave are left torn between their home/family/culture and the desire to have a better life. I feel grief for the idealised Portugal I grew up in, now realising it's gone, it never existed, and even when I visit I feel a sense of loss as I take in the harsh reality of my Portugal I had to leave behind. Having lived abroad for nearly 7 years now, I miss (saudade) my country so bad, but I cannot imagine going back, almost like being in a permanent break up with someone you deeply love but whom you must move on from.
Beautifully written. Loved reading it. I know how hard it is to miss Portugal. I left it for 30 years but I came back…. We always do come back….. SAUDADE
They take a lot of anxiety medication but that doesn’t mean they really need it!! I love Portugal! Beautiful country!! Very abundant in resources! It’s a gold mine!!! People are wonderful!! Kind and with open heart! True people. ❤
Obrigado. From the bottom of my heart, obrigado. There are a thousand illuminated souls here whose first instinct was to rush to the comment section to write "Uhm, actually"s. I will not. This has shaken me to my core. And Gustavo's theory is brilliant. Thank you for the exposé, american.
This video made me think in my country’s culture in a point of view I had never considered As a young citizen of Portugal I appreciate you so much for producing this very thoughtful and insightful video
I’m Portuguese, but Fado was never a thing in my region at all, but in every video about Portugal they bring up Fado…I don’t recall anyone listening to or singing Fado growing up. Instead, Ranchos and Desgarrada were the popular musical styles in my region and they are far from sad.
Exactly. The BS that fado is a national this is just really BS. If you're outside Lisbon, when was the last time you've heard Fado. Fado is not a Nacional thing, is a Lisbon thing.
I’m a Portuguese as well, I absolutely adored this video, congratulations, and I’m glad to see the respect you held for “Saudade” and the feeling of Saudade and Fado and its culture. Well done!
Some points about this video. The methods used to collect the data to rank countries by anxiety is prone to extreme error. That shoud have been one of the main talking points. Self report is particularly prone to a number of bias. More stoic/colder countries will never self report correctly, while more emotional countries will probably over report it. There also a huge problem how people think about anxiety. Being anxious, by it self, is normal. It is a remnant of our fight or flight response since being a caveman. If you are studying for an important test, or have an upcoming job interview, you will be anxious, sometimes weeks before. That is not a disease. The actual medical disease group of anxiety disorders is when this anxiety has no obvious cause or trigger, and becomes a constant (cronic) disease having a huge impact on quality of life. Our lifestyle of constant small stress exposition could be the reason this desregulation of the response happens, as the doctor in the video was explaining, which im not sure the author of the video fully comprehended. Furthermore, there are many unrelated symptoms that could be cause my a constant state of anxiety that people often do not correlate with anxiety. A second interesting fact that sadly this video also missed, is how the medical field treats anxiety. Obviously, the first step is understading if it is an actual anxiety disorder, or simply, an acute response to stress which with a defined trigger, which, i repeat, is not a disease . However, this crucial first step is often overlooked even by doctors. So what ends up happening is many, many people being prescribed with Benzodiazepines (the most popular pharmacologic group) to treat this disorder. But. One of the most popular medications used, alprazolam, also known as xanax, is extremely addictive. And although today doctors are a lot more carefull with its prescription, that wasnt always the case in the past. Many people have done xanax, for relative benigne reasons, exposing them to addiction, (and a percieved state of anxiety related to the removal of the drug), and all the side effects of the medication. Portugal was a breeding ground for this. There is also a lot that could be said about how anxiety disorder and depression are often found together in the same patient, which creates a degree of complexety most studies completely ignore. If you ask someone with depression if they are anxious, they will say yes most of the time, and that will only be true, sometimes. Again, studies can lie. As a doctor, i have a lot of respect for psycology, but this video needed to embrace psychiatry a lot more to reach any amount of a decent conclusion which it did not. The most important step is probably make the diagnosis of anxiety, and what is and isnt a disorder. In the end, this is a well made video, but ends up being shallow and only grazing the issue. Which often leads to the perpetuation of misinformation even if its not the goal of it at all. And as a final touch, you excluded loneliness and social isolation way too soon and easily. Specialy among younger patients. Having a strong support structure arround a person is one of the most beneficial counters to many mental health issues including anxiety. Humans are social. And it might seem young people are more social then ever, but they are not. Social media isnt it. Far from it. Despite cities being more crowded then ever, people never felt so lonely. And although this doesnt apply to portugal alone, its one of the probable causes students report higher amounts of anxiety then other groups. There is no single cause that leads to portugal being number one. Personaly, i belive the self report statistics are irrelevant, but it is true portugal has a huge mental health issue. They are probably in line with most western countris though which are suffering the same fate. Any attempt to make this problem simple with one probable cause, will always lead to failure. P.s Its bonkers to say the fatima we know today was financed by pilgrims. Cute story though. Despite happening before Estado Novo, fatima grew to what we know today during salazar regime. And it is no coincidence. Its weird because you said it your self. The 3Fs. Its obvious who actualy financed the construction of fatima and why. Very weird thing to say in the middle of the video. The artificial selection theory is strange as well. Portugal colonial strategy, belive it or not, was not comprised by mass emigration but mostly strategic control of trade posts and forts. Not that many people actualy left portugal to the colonies because we were a small country to begin with. Kings banned it because we did not have the manpower to sustain it. In the end i have no idea where the graph at 23:27 came from. Cant find the source. And if the theory was correct, the other colonizers, the ones that ACTUALY extensively used the strategy of colonization of the new world with settlers, such as spain and the UK, would be the ones top of the list as well. The fact brasil, portugal biggest colony, is second on the list, doesnt help this theory either. The idea that the anxious and afraid do not run to the new world is controversial. Staying is often a risk as well, and risk takers is a very broad imprecise definition. But im no psycologist so i will refrain from comenting. Genetics could have a role, but not because of a story of artificial selection during the age of discovery. The entire videos conclusion fails to explain why young people in particular are feeling so anxious. They are not religious (atheism is on the rise), they are not traditional (on average and compared to their parents), they werent alive at the time of political repression, and they are prone to taking more risks than their parents which is why so many emigrate to begin with. Once again, the conclusion tries to make a complex problem simple which leads to a complete failure to seriously discuss this topic.
Read Hofstede. His questions on uncertainty avoidance were shrewd and left no room for lying. Portugal is 2nd in anxiety in his 8ndex since 1972 and continues to be
Young people are never traditional...but after a few years... The best measure of anxiety is by Hofstede and portugal was 2nd behind Greece, since 1973
Most of the people that left in colonial times and were supposedly amongst the least anxious went to Brazil. So if your artificial selection theory is true, then Brazil would be one of the least anxious countries, and yet it is actually second place in your list. Thus, culture must play a much stronger role.
This was very beautiful, as an Iranian I also relate to so many of those reasons causing anxiety in Portuguese people . I hope they change it for the better very soon
I literally moved to Portugal and my anxiety went away… married a Portuguese and hes the chilles person I know, I seriously dont know what you are talking about…
Such a beautiful documentary. It's fascinating and jaw-dropping to see the brilliance behind Gustavo's discovery. Those who returned from Africa in the mid-70s came back with much more open minds-not only from their close connections with South Africa and Rhodesia but also because they, or their ancestors, had taken the risk to venture abroad, into unknown lands, to build a new world. Even today, as one of their descendants, I feel that we are wired differently-wired for risk, entrepreneurship, emmigration, and culture. Thank you indeed for such greatness. Bem haja!
i feel this way too. my Dad is Goan and even though he is ethnically indian and it was his ancestors 100s of years ago who are portuguese from Vasco De Gama times, he always felt more Portuguese. He fought in the portuguese armies in the 70s when Salazar promised them they would gain portuguese nationality for serving and he was so proud to get his portguese passport and emigrate to Portugal in the late 70s.
Yes indeed. Also more racist 😂 lovely to hear the stories of those open mind who used to say " we use to have those blackie helpers" "life was awesome for us there" 😂 I get it.
There’s so many ways to approach this topic. I believe you search for the answer as a foreigner, looking in what you know about Portugal, historically and cultural. Portuguese people usually don’t take breakfast, and go bed around 00:00, time in Portugal is relative so nobody can predict most of the day with certainty. It’s basically a caos a biological caos, also most of the population didn’t know how to read when the tv show up in the country, leading to an unhealthy tv consumption, mostly news with negativity that leads to more uncertainty. Anxiety becomes passion, we are passionate people dreamers looking for something bigger outside of the country. Thanks for your video. Tenho saudades do meu país!
E agora é o cancro das redes sociais, todos querem ser maais que os outros e mostrar isso And now it's the cancer of social media, everyone wants to be more than everyone else and show it
I am of Portuguese descent, which is why I clicked on and watched all the way through. Thank you for this thoughtful exploration. You’ve given me a lot to think about! And an urge to visit Portugal!
Very well done video and, as a Portuguese, I totally agree. Also, it might be the genes, I was in tears at the end hearing the fado. It just touches our hearts I guess... FUN FACT: One thing I've noticed after many years abroad, unlike other countries, the radios in Portugal always pass melancholic and sad songs.
That´s not true, Portuguese radio stations play the same music as any commercial radio station in the world, but of course they also play music from the country, in fact, there is only one Fado radio station and it has only been there for a short time!
@paulocorreia7942 commercial stations, yes, obviously, whatever is popular in the world, but you can always find sad songs when you scroll through the stations. Its ingrained. Even me, Im an adventurer, rarely Im sad gratefully, but when I am, my god its deep. When I sing, the sad songs just feel so much more natural. Its inside us brother 😂
Fado is a traditional musical genre from the Lisbon region, it is not traditional at all in Portugal. I'm from the north of Portugal and I guarantee you that no one grows up listening to Fado... we have our own folklore that is happy and colorful. Unless you are from the Lisbon region, no one will identify with the description you gave. The people of Lisbon live like foreigners in their own land, far from Portuguese culture, which is why they are sour and melancholic. The anxiety (which is the opposite of malancolia) of the Portuguese people exists due to excessive working hours, wages that do not allow them to survive and the lack of time to spend with family and friends. Especially now that Portugal is a country of tourism and shopping malls, most Portuguese people have completely insane working hours and therefore it is impossible for them to get together with family and friends as no one's days off coincide. We are tired of being exploited serving the public and having to postpone our lives forever, we don't have money to leave our parents home.
Wow! Amazing video, thanks! Shared with my friends and family. My mom’s side of the family immigrated to the US from Madeira in the early 1960s. One thing you should correct in the video: Portugal did in fact experience a big nasty traumatic war in recent memory, it’s part of why my family immigrated. Most people forget that Portugal had their own version of Vietnam, in Africa, the futile fight to keep the colonies in Africa claimed many thousands of lives from 1961-1974.
Thanks for sharing. Re: war - there was a war but compared to major wars that other countries had, it was not as large or deadly, therefore it can't be an explanation for the anxiety.
I think the author ruled out a lot of things very prematurely, there are aspects of precarity in Portugal that don't appear in the aggregated statistics. Poverty is often a geographic context, simply speaking costs are higher than income, or the risk of being wiped out financially is always present. Then there are aspects of status competition and low trust, between strangers and even family members.
@@pedrotrigo895 yep, but Portugal is special in that regard. I don't live in Portugal now for some years, and that made me see the contrast between precarity in other countries and Portugal. Precarity in Portugal is similar to the UK and the US but without the same GDP per capita. And with the added bonus of being a very low trust society, and that predates even the Estado Novo years. People are often put in a pressure cooker of expectations, conformity, high inequality and low paying jobs, plus a lot of gaslighting. People are pressured and manipulated into making bad personal choices to appease spouses, family members, bosses and the State. And often they don't have material, financial and time resources to deal with all those demands. Portugal is special in the way it domesticated people with the use of constant anxiety, I honestly feel much better outside of Portugal. Doesn't mean that it's perfect, but it seems that I can have more control over my life here than there.
@@calexico66 yes but I am not even talking the anglo countries. There are tons of countries with worse of condition monetarily speaking, than Portugal. To name a few: Greece; Georgia; all Balcan countries(except Slovenia); Eastern Europe/central asia. Yet, Portugal is on the TOP of all in regards to anxiety.
@@pedrotrigo895 because precarity isn't necessarily defined by just financial aspects, you can have less money but more familial support. You can have less money or even a bad job, but you have a piece of land to grow some food. The statistics often don't show those things that are difficult to measure. Sometimes, having someone not pressuring you with demands and the other hand giving some support can go a long way. I was aware of many of these aspects more than 10 years ago, there is a book called the Spirit Level, and no it's not a new age book, that goes through the statistics of OCDE countries and talks about the consequences of economic inequality. And anxiety is highly correlated with inequality, but there are other aspects that aren't measured in the statistics.
These statistics are very wrong as you have a few people that earn a lot and most of the country earns less than a 1K a month. Definitely still surviving most of the country, because the previous generation still had their own house
Isso é porque Portugal está longe de ser o que ja foi, tendo em conta a pressão economica que passamos neste momento, e o facto da nossa cultura se estar a perder aos poucos com a imigração/turismo cada vez mais crescentes no nosso país. A explicação que ele dá no video recusa todos estes factos como sendo os factores principais para a ansiedade que se vive em Portugal.
Most living abroad long to come back but often regret their decision especially if they don’t take into account the lower economic possibilities, from my anecdotal evidence is more noticeable in the younger generation meanwhile old people in or near retirement are already counting on it. When you experience places with better salaries and work conditions, it can be hard to adjust.
Im a 33y old Portuguese and I have to say: Amazing video! Made me think about things that seem so obvious but in our daily life we don’t take the time to think about! Thank you!
oh wow kudos to you for speaking portuguese. I was not expecting this video at all! Even as a portuguese Im shocked by the levels of anxiety (above 70% wow). Ah but I say all of them. There is a lot of domestic violence amongst the families but so ingrained that it's not reported. Economically we are going down the hill (teachers sleeping in cars, you can't get doctors). We work stupid long hours - for no reason other than we do a million breaks. We are also going back in terms of "the traditional families and the traditional values". We also have a culture of staying late which in turn leads to poor sleep from childhood onwards. I used to only have dinner at 20h because my parents were never home before that. In Spain is even worse in this regard. Finally, as someone who left the country more than 10y ago, indeed I relate to the % that left the country, who took the risk of leaving because it was in fact a higher risk staying behind in such a closed mindset. Seriously a really great video
I am Dutch, I live in Portugal over 8 years now and I have noticed that there is a huge difference between the Portuguese and the Dutch, the Portuguese seem to be much more scared for the GNR (police) and about the laws and rules in general. They also talk much less openly about politics and their own political views. And then one more very important thing: in the Netherlands they say "the customer is king", in Portugal everywhere you go, be it a supermarket, a bank, a doctor or a local or national institution (like a tax-office), the person working there somehow radiates some sort of superiority, you NEED to show respect right at the start to close some gap that seems to be there naturally. I think that's a heritage from the dictatorship, All these layers of power that have been created during the regime have become traditional and nobody really minds.
As a Portuguese and a psychologist I must say: amazing perspective about us, our culture and our mental health. Thank you... P.S.: you just got a new follower/subscriber from this side of the pond...
The first interactions I had with Portuguese culture were 1. Ronaldo’s export to Manchester United. One of the “boldest and bravest” so to speak having left the country. The second thing was Fernando Pessoa’s “Book of Disquiet” which was one of the most “saudade” and “fado” texts I’ve read. Then as I grew older and travelled to Portugal and spoke with its people, it made more sense. Great video Mark!
@@paulocorreia7942 Indeed! • Portuguese Icons: Both are celebrated symbols of Portuguese identity, each achieving global recognition-Ronaldo in sports, Pessoa in literature. • Dedication to Craft: Ronaldo’s rigorous discipline mirrors Pessoa’s meticulous exploration of writing, showing a shared pursuit of excellence. • Complex Personalities: Pessoa’s many literary personas reflect a complexity echoed in Ronaldo’s intense, layered public image. • Cultural Impact: Ronaldo’s influence in pop culture complements Pessoa’s lasting impact on literature, philosophy, and identity. • Pride in Portuguese Heritage: Both see themselves as representing Portugal on the world stage, inspiring national pride through their unique contributions.
Been living in Portugal for 6 years and have not noticed any anxiety at all. What I do notice however, are the traditional values and a certain backwardness. Northern Europe is much more dynamic and salaries are much higher. I think the Portuguese need to demand better from their government before they are completely left behind.
I'm portuguese and have lived here for 30 years. Portugal could REALLY be literally the best country in the world in all aspects. But we love misery, and choose our politicians accordingly.
Penso exatamente o mesmo. Temos tanto potencial! Poderíamos ser um dos melhores países do mundo a tantos níveis... Mas somos fracos e de parca inteligência, assim generalizando com muita força. E claro que isso se reflecte na sociedade, e essencialmente nas escolhas que fazemos, seja na amostra de políticos que temos à disposição, como nos partidos que elegemos.
You are in need of some ultraliberalism and deregulated markets. After being the emperors of the sea, you definitely could become the kings of the world
As a portuguese this video actually made me understand more things about myself, and i can indeed agree and relate to your final conclusion. But, as you said, maybe that's what makes our country pretier!
I'm Portuguese and my dad is a retired psychiatrist. Probably even a colleague of Gustavo. I've always heard my dad say "we are the descendants of those who stayed. Those who were too unfit or too cowardly to go." I always found that something very negative to say about your own country, but i can see some truth in it. If the risk takers go out, what is left?
Or maybe we are the descendants of those who fight for the future of their children and land, and are not deserters, but loyal to their own roots? Plus, staying also means taking risks.
Being portuguese as well, this kinda makes me run away and become the ultimate risk taker all of a sudden, just to contradict the natural flow of those who stayed. Breaking free of a cycle even.
This opened my eyes to so many things that I actually unconsciously realized over time after leaving Portugal 9 years ago... Like José Saramago, one of our best writers once wrote, "you have to leave the island in order to see the island".
The genetic idea is interesting, but it sounds a bit specious. Relies on claim that a) people lower in anxiety are necessarily more likely to emigrate. b) that this has had a significant effect on a gene pool centuries later. Also, a bit more could've been done here to investigate the Portuguese lifestyle, I think. Still, nice video, definitely something to think about.
And it's incongruous, because it takes anxiety to do something. Anxiety is linked to accomplishing things, it is linked to the motivation to do it, to wake up, to go after something! A bit the opposite of a human being who is relaxed about life. This one I would say is more conformist in part. I think the best thing in life is to have anxiety and be relaxed at the same time, knowing how to balance these two things within ourselves!
My father used to say that our problem had 800 years. Our country borned in a problematic relationship between mother and son. We have the oldest borders of the world, we did a revolution without violence. It seems good but is not normal.
This was actually my first thought. Because it's what I think explains the difference between Americans and Europeans. It's why I love Americans, they are my adventurous brothers and sisters.
19 дней назад
What an amazing job Mark! As Portuguese, got me tears in my eyes.
I was born in Portugal, grew up abroad, and then returned in my teens (in the 90s). It was a huge culture shock for me as I struggled to adjust to what seemed to me an odd, antiquated mindset. As a consequence of growing up in 2 different countries, I am bilingual and actually think in both english and portuguese, alternating without really being aware of it. I have often found my portuguese thoughts to be more "fatalistic" and contrived than the more practical and pragmatic english ones. I have also found it to be literally "harder" to think complex thoughts in portuguese due to a higher complexity in the language. The genetic explanation seems plausible to me, but like most explanations in life, the reason why the portuguese are apparently the most anxious in the world is due to a compounding of multiple factors that all pull in that direction. It's genetics, it's the language, it's our history, it's our mindset, to a point that it is probably embedded permanently into our culture and national identity. But not all the adventurers in our past left for good, though. Having been a migrant, I have witnessed first-hand an innate desire in nearly every other portuguese migrant I've met to one day return to their homeland. That's saudade. Wanderlust imbued with homesickness. Anyway, thanks, Mark, for making a video about the portuguese.
When you're taught in school that your country once was the pioneer in the age of discoveries, had a large global empire, even intended to divide the world in half with Spain, but then you realise what could have been, realise that so many things went wrong, it makes you wonder. Maybe our history as a country reflects on our people, people that feel they could have been so much more but aren't, and eventually need to leave. Nothing creates anxiety as effectively as the feeling of being unable to do better.
Spaniard here, we only get taught our history from the point we started losing colonies. There is a level of self loathing embeded in our culture, i wonder if its the same for you guys
I love this episode, Mark, and as always, you impress me a lot. The topic in this video is so insightful for me; I've learned something about the anxious state of mind of the Portuguese, even if not a lot. Great video-very insightful and enjoyable. Looking forward to more!
I’m astonished with this reflection. I am a 22 y/o Brasilian, and watching this video made me realize things that never before, have I done. First of all, I loved the way you were not satisfied with the results, and actually went deeper than this economic and political excuses people normally correlates. But other than that: • You brought to me a new perspective on “Saudade”, a word that we indeed are very proud of having. And that was a very interesting one, relating it to the explorations time and how the people dealed with their own relatives going without the confirmation they would come back. • I think you could go on with this research and understand why does Brasil, the second on the list of most anxious, was curiously a colony and initially an extension of the portuguese culture. I really think this work, if deepened can possibly discover further and more profound insights! Thanks for sharing this amazing piece of work.
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I'd like to take a moment to address some of the criticisms that keep coming up in the comments:
1. "Salazar was not a fascist." This is up for debate. Many credible historians argue he was and many argue he wasn't. He's fascist enough for my taste. Even if he wasn't, he had a number of fascist tendencies and was still a pretty awful dictator. I chose to call him one here simply because it created an interesting comparison to Germany, Italy and Spain who had far more violent governments, but whose populations do not exhibit the mental health problems that Portugal's does. The idea here is to raise an important question at the beginning of the video, not quibble over political definitions.
2. "Brazil is number two on the list and that's where the Portuguese went, so your theory doesn't make sense." Incorrect. The majority of Brazil's population is NOT descendants of the Portuguese. The majority of Brazilians are of African descent. Brazil also has extremely large populations of Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese descent. Similarly, Portugal had many colonies, not just Brazil. Only a minority of people who left Portugal went to Brazil and only a minority of people who formed Brazil were Portuguese. On top of all of this, Brazil's anxiety rates are relatively recent. They weren't in the top 10 in previous datasets from decades ago.
3. "Portugal actually did have a terrible war." Yes, their colonial wars were bad but in the grand scheme of things, they were relatively small and minor compared to things such as World War 2, the Revolutions of Russia or China, the Vietnam War, Korea, etc. If war was a valid explanation for Portugal's anxiety, then the war-torn countries of the world would have vastly higher rates of anxiety than Portugal. But they don't.
A lot of commenters seem to be forgetting that the question here is not, "Why are people in Portugal anxious?" The question is, "Why are people in Portugal anxious in numbers higher than any other country in the world?" That is a very different question and it therefore requires us to look at Portugal's problems, not just on their own, but also relative to other countries. Yes, Portugal has economic problems, political problems, social problems, etc. But are those problems uniquely extreme or bad to justify so many anxiety disorder diagnoses? The answer is no. They are not.
The one thing that is extreme and unique in Portugal's history is what is discussed at the end of the video. This is the one thing that ONLY Portugal has experienced that no one else has. Therefore, it strikes me as a logical explanation for why Portugal displays the highest number of anxiety disorders in the world.
Where did you get your data that the majority of Brazil's population is not of Portuguese descendants ? My quick research on the topic showed otherwise. Plus, many of Africans that you say emigrated to Brazil could already be of Portuguese descent, as Portugal had colonies in Africa before even discovering Brazil. Moreover, Brazil was for a time the country where the king and powerful monarchs lived. There was massive immigration from Portugal to Brazil, I don't know where you are getting this data from...
Regarding Portugal colonial war, yes it was "smaller" than world war 2, but if you take into account the population of Portugal at the time, and the number of such Portuguese man that fought in that war, you may find that there is a relevant percentage of man fighting there. We can't look at wars with just numbers, but we need to look at how much a war affects a country proportionally.
@@diogorio5249 African and indigenous Brazilians outnumbered European Brazilians by at least 2-to-1 for much of its early history, which is when most Portuguese emigration occurred. If you read about the slave trade and Brazil you will see the staggering numbers that came over. Brazil also had massive influxes of German, Italian, Lebanese, Japanese, and other immigrants in the 20th century. Portugal had a significant cultural impact on Brazil but in terms of actual populations that came over, it was not the majority. My sources: I've read a number of books on Brazilian history, lived there for a number of years and married one.
Since we are discussing genetics, whether African slaves came from a Portuguese colony or not is inconsequential.
@@IAmMarkMansonplease do share one of such books as I would be interested in reading that.
I think you misunderstood what I ment. If the Portuguese African colonies were already established before Portugal's discovery of Brazil, I think it is safe to assume many of Africans that arrived in Brazil would have by that point Portuguese genes. Thus, it is incorrect for you to say it's irrelevant.
The comments were dis-activated but I wonder if their colonization hundreds of years ago could contribute. Same with the USA it's a sort of karmic type of relationship with the past. 😢
I would love the source that discusses that portugal lost 40% of its population to colonies. I could not find that at all. What i did found, is that they had similar levels of colonial settlers when compared to the other colonial powers, which doesnt help the artificial selection theory. But i could be wrong. I know this video was focusing on portugal alone and why it has a percieved higher amount of anxiety then other western countries, but thats the thing. The conclusion we arrived at the end of the video falls short. And its very debatable if portugal truly is above other western countries or its just a study bias. I wrote a very lenghy and not in perfect english comment on why i dont completely agree with the video, which i will place bellow, but i have know this topic is increadibily complex and we, random people on the internet, will not be able to fully explain it no matter how long we discuss it.
"Some points about this video. The methods used to collect the data to rank countries by anxiety is prone to extreme error. That shoud have been one of the main talking points. Self report is particularly prone to a number of bias. More stoic/colder countries will never self report correctly, while more emotional countries will probably over report it. There also a huge problem how people think about anxiety. Being anxious, by it self, is normal. It is a remnant of our fight or flight response since being a caveman. If you are studying for an important test, or have an upcoming job interview, you will be anxious, sometimes weeks before. That is not a disease. The actual medical disease group of anxiety disorders is when this anxiety has no obvious cause or trigger, and becomes a constant (cronic) disease having a huge impact on quality of life. Our lifestyle of constant small stress exposition could be the reason this desregulation of the response happens, as the doctor in the video was explaining, which im not sure the author of the video fully comprehended. Furthermore, there are many unrelated symptoms that could be cause my a constant state of anxiety that people often do not correlate with anxiety. A second interesting fact that sadly this video also missed, is how the medical field treats anxiety. Obviously, the first step is understading if it is an actual anxiety disorder, or simply, an acute response to stress which with a defined trigger, which, i repeat, is not a disease . However, this crucial first step is often overlooked even by doctors. So what ends up happening is many, many people being prescribed with Benzodiazepines (the most popular pharmacologic group) to treat this disorder. But. One of the most popular medications used, alprazolam, also known as xanax, is extremely addictive. And although today doctors are a lot more carefull with its prescription, that wasnt always the case in the past. Many people have done xanax, for relative benigne reasons, exposing them to addiction, (and a percieved state of anxiety related to the removal of the drug), and all the side effects of the medication. Portugal was a breeding ground for this. There is also a lot that could be said about how anxiety disorder and depression are often found together in the same patient, which creates a degree of complexety most studies completely ignore. If you ask someone with depression if they are anxious, they will say yes most of the time, and that will only be true, sometimes. Again, studies can lie. As a doctor, i have a lot of respect for psycology, but this video needed to embrace psychiatry a lot more to reach any amount of a decent conclusion which it did not. The most important step is probably make the diagnosis of anxiety, and what is and isnt a disorder. In the end, this is a well made video, but ends up being shallow and only grazing the issue. Which often leads to the perpetuation of misinformation even if its not the goal of it at all. And as a final touch, you excluded loneliness and social isolation way too soon and easily. Specialy among younger patients. Having a strong support structure arround a person is one of the most beneficial counters to many mental health issues including anxiety. Humans are social. And it might seem young people are more social then ever, but they are not. Social media isnt it. Far from it. Despite cities being more crowded then ever, people never felt so lonely. And although this doesnt apply to portugal alone, its one of the probable causes students report higher amounts of anxiety then other groups. There is no single cause that leads to portugal being number one. Personaly, i belive the self report statistics are irrelevant, but it is true portugal has a huge mental health issue. They are probably in line with most western countris though which are suffering the same fate. Any attempt to make this problem simple with one probable cause, will always lead to failure.
P.s Its bonkers to say the fatima we know today was financed by pilgrims. Cute story though. Despite happening before Estado Novo, fatima grew to what we know today during salazar regime. And it is no coincidence. Its weird because you said it your self. The 3Fs. Its obvious who actualy financed the construction of fatima and why. Very weird thing to say in the middle of the video. The artificial selection theory is strange as well. Portugal colonial strategy, belive it or not, was not comprised by mass emigration but mostly strategic control of trade posts and forts. Not that many people actualy left portugal to the colonies because we were a small country to begin with. Kings banned it because we did not have the manpower to sustain it. In the end i have no idea where the graph at 23:27 came from. Cant find the source. And if the theory was correct, the other colonizers, the ones that ACTUALY extensively used the strategy of colonization of the new world with settlers, such as spain and the UK, would be the ones top of the list as well. The fact brasil, portugal biggest colony, is second on the list, doesnt help this theory either. The idea that the anxious and afraid do not run to the new world is controversial. Staying is often a risk as well, and risk takers is a very broad imprecise definition. But im no psycologist so i will refrain from comenting. Genetics could have a role, but not because of a story of artificial selection during the age of discovery. The entire videos conclusion fails to explain why young people in particular are feeling so anxious. They are not religious (atheism is on the rise), they are not traditional (on average and compared to their parents), they werent alive at the time of political repression, and they are prone to taking more risks than their parents which is why so many emigrate to begin with. Once again, the conclusion tries to make a complex problem simple which leads to a complete failure to seriously discuss this topic."
As a Portuguese person living in Portugal, I can say that the main reason for anxiety here is straightforward and was shockingly underestimated in the video: low income. Many people work hard but don’t earn enough. High taxes and a government that doesn’t always allocate funds effectively add to the problem. As a result, many young people leave Portugal-not because they want to, but to find better salaries. We’re a Western European country, so we have similar mindsets and expectations, but not the same disposable income at the end of the month. The result? Constant stress and worry about money. We could be doing so much better, but high taxation and poor policies are holding us back from having better lives.
tl;dr: Yes, economic stress might be a common reason for anxiety, but our cultural approach to our situations intensify the effects.
According to the study "Recent trends in wage inequality from an EU perspective: a tale of two convergences", our purchasing power parity (PPP) (in 2015, was the most recent data I could find) was around the 11th place of the 19 countries covered[1]. That means that despite having at least 8 other countries with more severe economic stress just in the EU, we still scored the highest in the entire world in anxiety. I agree with you that, individually, that might be the most predominant cause for anxiety among us[2], but our culture and mindset still set the way we react to our situations, intensifying our anxiety comparatively to other countries/cultures.
[1] The graph I'm drawing from can be easily found by search "EU-distribution-of-employees-by-full-time-equivalent-wage-levels-PPP-euro-2015_fig1_331675100" on Google, as it will be the first webpage by ResearchGate on the feed
[2] Searching "Metade das pessoas com salários abaixo de 1.050 euros brutos" will reach a portuguese news article reporting the salary distribution in Portugal, where it confirms that the majority of the population was making less than 1000€ before taxes between 2019 and 2021.
I am Portuguese and I have left the country for this reason. I have grown up feeling anxious about money and still to this day I am anxious. When you grow up in a country where the minimum wage is literally a joke and you can’t even afford to rent a house , how can people not be stressed ?
@rafaelafernandes863 Again, that is true, but it doesn't explain how we've been the most anxious country in the entire world since 1990 (except for 2002 and 2003 when Brazil got first place momentarily). Especially when there are a lot of other countries that have worse economic problems than us.
@@denisofirst6701another thing are the school grades, they are very high if u want to go to university, so u have much pressure to have good grades for have a good life in the future and the final exam is only made for college students
Even though all those things certainly are a huge contribution to the anxiety crisis, the point he made in the video is that Portugal is the MOST anxious country in the world, but it is not even NEAR the countries with the lowest incomes. This means that low income cannot explain it a 100%
I am a Spaniard, and I would like to point out a few things:
Spain and Portugal share a history marked by a national feeling of defeat after losing their overseas territories and global influence. Both countries also endured long periods of dictatorship, each lasting about 40 years. These dictatorships were characterized by a strong traditional component that fostered a sense of security and predictability. This stability, although ultimately unsustainable, is something today's youth often look back on nostalgically, unavoidably comparing their lives and prospects to those of their parents. These regimes left a legacy of severe inequalities, especially in areas like housing, social care, and pensions. These are clearly intergenerational.
Now, there are a few key differences between Spain and Portugal:
Firstly, Franco's dictatorship in Spain was the result of a civil war that literally split the country, and these tensions persist and are visible today.
While Spain lost all its overseas territories by 1898, Portugal was drawn into the Colonial Wars during Salazar's regime, which meant 15 years of conflict in Angola, with generations of young men sent to fight and die in Africa for a cause they neither understood nor supported. Many families left the country to avoid having their children sent to Africa.
And finally, this brings us to an important cultural distinction: Spain is largely a Mediterranean country, while Portugal is Atlantic from tip to toe. Compare the peaceful and predictable Mare Nostrum with the vast and unknowable ocean, and imagine a father departing from the Atlantic coast. In the Mediterranean, it’s almost certain that he’ll return soon, safe and sound; in the Atlantic, his mere return is uncertain. This sense of longing permeates the Portuguese spirit and even extends to Galicia.
Severe inequalities of pensions and housing? Those were literally enforced by Franco's regime. He was the one who Made most housing in Big cities, trying to make affordable housing, My entire neighbourhood was Made in those times (as most in this zone). Go compare the % of house ownership in Spain vs Germany, You Will be more than surprised. Nowadays theres no possibility to get house as cheap, not Even dreaming about it.
Portuguese dictatorship lasted 60 years not 40. Furthermore, funny you mention spain and the sense of loss of both countries, because the portuguese defeat in morroco in 1579 and death of our young king leading to a personal union with spain led to a chronic and irreversible sense of loss. We lost almost our entire empire in the east during that union period because we were not at war with anyone and all of the sudden we were at war with everyone due to our spanish tie. People still await our king Saint Sebastian to return in a morning of mist.
@@Icenfyre The dictatorship lasted 48 years and not 60 as you said. But I bet there's an explanation coming!
Maybe you are talking about the military dictatorship before the Estado-Novo, But they are separate and totally different things!
Thank you.
Regarding Meditarreanean spirit you are wrong, though we are not a mediterranean country, it's widespread along the country (or at least at the south). Portugal considers itself as a Mediterranean country.
Portuguese here. I don't agree with how you cross off things, but some points were valid (especially by Gustavo, he understands anxiety as a biological mechanic defense for survival, something we've forgotten in the modern age). That being said, here's my two cents:
4:49 Portugal is refered as "the eastern european in the west". There's also the saying "Portugal is behind 50 years". There's sort of a pressure for Portugal to be at the level of the rest of the west, but we're not and we're always the little brother chasing the big brother. As a nation, we feel pressure to compesate those 50 years, in other words, we're constantly chasing this goal that in terms of time is not possible cause our dictatorship lasted longer than everyone else - this creates anxiety
5:30 There's definitely trauma from the dictatorship/police in the past. There's also abuse, but as you find out - we're traditional/conservative/quiet - so people don't speak about it - here a lot of things are still seen as taboo - not speaking creates anxiety
6:45 Agree, but I'll say it differently - older generations had it rough, but they also had their sh** together, they had to grow fast, they often had kids by 18 - and so there's still a pressure of "I HAVE TO" have kids by a certain age, to be married by X age, to have a degree by X age, to have a house X age - this creates anxiety
7:57 Agree, I often tell foreigners that portuguese culture is conformist - I think this is also a reason why we have a relatively safe country, conformists don't like confrontation
10:22 Don't understand how loneliness was cross off due to Fátima, but it's a thing, there's even YT channel (Andamente) that shows examples of loneliness in Portugal
10:42 Don't know why you associated social pressure solely to religion, but there's a lot of it here. Portugal is refered by some as "Japan of Europe" due to historical-geographical similarities, but also due culture/values. Like Japan, there's pressure from family for you to do well in everything. Expected to do well in school, because (grand)parents didn't have that opportunity, to be anything else than a farmer/fisherman. Expected to pursue things they couldn't - so a lot of people go for anxiety careers instead of focusing on traditional values, such as building a family. So it's almost opposite of what was said - yes we are traditional, but there's pressure to go for things that weren't possible and that are more valued now - career, prestige, status, etc. This is why the percentage is so high at 1:33
10:45 Yes we're family-oriented, but isolation can happen due to that - when families gather, the older generations tend to "demand" for you to follow a certain way - that can create rifts between people/isolation - it's not fair to make a person do the things you wish you did - this creates anxiety
I wanna add something: historically, we were farmers/fisherman, living by nature - afte dictatorship, waves of people went from rural to cities - studies who urban environments are more stressful. That, together with new technology - bad anxiety
Ganda rei, ficou tudo dito ♥️
Fascinating points that make me think about my own home in the most isolated part of the continental US (Eastern MT, NE WY, Western ND, NW SD). We have the highest suicide rate which is often chalked up to our winters, but there are many other factors. We’ve identified many but the fact is we are Americans but we don’t live like the rest of the country. We aren’t living traditionally, even the native ppl live modern, but we don’t look like what people think the northern US looks like. Open scrub prairie, not mountains or rolling green hills; and so few people that some tourists get scared. We are very anxious about everything, it’s hard to do well financially here, we know the rest of the country, even the more populated parts of our own states, forget we exist and roll their eyes at us. We can’t compete nationally, and everyone ignores us. We are more family oriented that most areas, with all the good & bad that brings. We feel caught between the centuries, we have barely caught up to 90s America! So many, many who can leave, do! But even living 300 miles from my home town, my old network is strong here. People who were big kids when I was little & babysat or helped with clubs now help each other promote their businesses or get opportunities. The same side characters weave their way through your life and it’s not just “your own story” with different characters at different times, it’s “our story,” even tho I am extremely enraged at most of em right now (politics), they are still close to family simply because we shared the same air growing up. It’s awful & its amazing but boy do we have mental health problems
Best comment!
I think your comment complements the video point.
What this video did not addressed well enough for Portuguese do not feel hurt is that he was trying to find the different aspect specific to Portuguese.
What you mention is important and relevant but is not unique to us. The saudade part and "genetic" part yes.
Ainda que ache que tenhas razão, o vídeo do Mark também descreve bem a nossa realidade e o que nos levou até aqui . É um misto.
I'm a 42 year old Portuguese and it has never occurred to me that artificial selection could be the root of our chronic aversion to risk, thus exacerbating our anxiety even more... It makes a lot of sense now. Thank you for your video!
This video is many inaccuracies and many leaps of faith. It's more of a brainstorming than factual conclusions.
The methods of measuring anxiety weren't even considered.
How about the ones that stayed were the ones the fought to keep independence of the country; that were fighting the Napolean Army when the King decide to do a Fuck All and run away to Rio; or the ones that fought in 3 different fronts in African while resisting a fucking dictatorship; or the ones that fought in the 1st World War in the toughest fronts. You enjoy smell any fart a fucking foreign gives it to you, don't you?
I'm a 35yr old emmigrant in the UK for the last 11yrs. This really explains a lot to me. Thank you
@@antoniobento2105 They ask people if they're anxious. Maybe the Portuguese have been under the propaganda of a certain group for much longer than everyone else.
@@tuckerbugeater Yes. That should have been talked about. Language might be a factor also. "Anxious" in Portuguese is not seen as "anxiety" as in the condition, it can be lighter. There are so many factors that can come into play.
The hypothesis of artificial selection is a fascinating one. As a Portuguese expat that has lived in the UK for more than 15 years, I am constantly finding that I left Portugal but Portugal never left me, quite the opposite. Abroad, the feeling of saudade just becomes more acute, more tangible. Being Portuguese is both a curse and a blessing, and I deeply love all that that entails. I cried at the end of the video, I could not avoid it, maybe it is in my genes...
So did I.. I share your feelings
I've never understood why I felt this way even though I was born in Luxembourg. My family was very traditional and I guess the "bad" genes are deep inside of us
My family came to the US & I was born here. But whenever I visit the island (Terceira) where they came from I feel like I am home. Those 🇵🇹roots run deep!
German, married to a Portuguese wife and over twenty years of going there regularly. While being far from fluent in Portuguese, Fado goes straight to my emotions, especially when experienced live. I completely feel you.
@@portuguesehydrangea4818 Portugal mistreated those on the islands.
@ yes there was always some discrimination towards the islands from mainland. Better today.
3 F’s is recent folclore. Salazar never said that.
“Deus, Pátria, Família” the true 3 words from the regime.
feels like something all fascists say
@@Guisantz it is what fascism ultimately boils down to, really
@@GuisantzBetter than communists
@@GuisantzDisagree. Park Chung He of S Korea would be described as a "fascist" same goes for the Kuomintang party of Taiwan or even the People's Action Party of Singapore, or even Mustafa Kemal of Turkey. But they have very little in common nor do they completely satisfy all the tenets of fascism. All of them had different priorities and not all of them wanted to carry out mass genocide on industrial scale or engage in revanchism(except for maybe Kuomintang who lost the mainland).
@@hhbattery4746 I guess Mussolini didn’t persecute your family, oppress your people and tried to eradicate your language and identity, brainwashed fascist.
As a portuguese teacher ss s foreign language, I find this video quite interesting, and I'm definitely going to share this with my students. Fun fact: maybe you know because you speak Portuguese (and not bad, congratulations by the way), but do you know how do we, Portuguese people, say that we are looking forward to something? For example, to say something like "I'm looking forward to the weekend", we say: Estou ansiosa pelo fim de semana 🤣🤣🤣
Wow I never thought of that ahahha
For English speakers, we say directly translated: "I'm anxious for this weekend" to say we look forward to the weekend
5:19: I don’t agree with the items you cross off in your list… we work long extra hours in private companies. They are just undeclared and not paid. (I’m Portuguese). We are always under financial stress. (The crisis and Troika hit us hard) even if we are finally doing ok in our lives, financial stress haunts you forever.
"not paid" onde fazes horas extras e não te pagam ?
@@joaoruxa Em praticamente qualquer consultora
Completamente verdade!
Portugal is not unique with having financial stress. Other countries have far worse financial stress than Portugal.
@@Feeshermon well in portugal have a roof its 80% of the budget sooo its a stress to make the others 20% reach to all or you live with ur fathers and i believe thats a stress too xD
This is the best, most respectful picture I've seen of the Portuguese soul and way of being. I know your premise was different but on the way to answer your question, you captured the perfect feeling of being Portuguese. Unfortunately I'm part of the 10% who left after the financial crisis but my soul remains Portuguese and I live my life longing for my country, hoping that one day I'll return for good. Thank you for such a wonderful video!
Thank you for highlighting the anxiety many face in countries like Portugal, where history often shapes collective mindsets. The idea that success is tied to leaving can create a silent, persistent pressure that goes unaddressed. This anxiety isn't just individual; it reflects a generational pattern of feeling that fulfillment or success lies somewhere else. It’s powerful to see this conversation open up, allowing more people to understand the weight of inherited beliefs and start to question if they truly serve us. Grateful for this deeper dive, Mark!
Hey it's the psychologist I ordered to go
i am portuguese and been struggling wiht this anxiety and depression since i can remember.
your videos hejped me a lot along the way. thank you.
@@miragaiamaia8966 Força! Estamos juntos!
"This anxiety isn't just individual; it reflects a generational pattern of feeling that fulfillment or success lies somewhere else."
So true..!!!
I'm from Portugal and I love your videos!! 😄
As a Portuguese woman, I believe that Portuguese anxiety comes above all from the (historical) internalization from which, to succeed, we have to leave, because our land or country is not abundant enough.
I think this habit of leaving has also prevented us from developing the country into the image of what we would like it to be. Thanks for the good content!
Nah, eu acredito que isso é desculpa
This video is bs with all the causas of anxiety this guy is like yap its ganetics even tho we cant afford our own house have massed up parents a whole generation fought in a war 50 year ago and we go out to lisbon we only see people from other countries living here and fado is not even popular today. the reason for the high anxiety its a mix of all the causas of anxiety mixed together
Totally!
@@BakongoRUI Então qual é a razão, na tua opinião?
Toda a gente q conheço equaciona sair do país com sucesso. Até os que falharam piram se eventualmente para encontrar sucesso. Cá não dá. Portugal é um retângulo tal como uma porta e tal como um caixão
0:50 the Three F's is actually a post-regime saying to mock the actual saying which was: "Deus Pátria Familia" (God, Fatherland, Family)
"God. Fatherland. Family."
Based.
Para saberes, Ridicularizar = mock
As a Portuguese I confirm the way the feelings of nostalgia of cherished memories and of what could have been, is unbearably overwhelming.
Is not that What Fernando Pessoa writes all about😂
Yeah and Portuguese has their own special word for it too: Saudade. But I always found that to be experienced more personally and less nationally. But what do I know, I was only there fleetingly.
No one does melancholy like Portugal
I'm Portuguese, deeply entangled with nostalgia, but with such desire to break through the world (gen z). I'm Portuguese and fighting my own heritage, because living by it is endlessly overwhelming, which is twice as painful.
@@vc_arita Just ignore your own heritage if it backtracks you. I've done that, it feels great.
As 34y old portuguese i always thought myself as highly anxious, it was part of my identity, until I moved to sri lanka as digital nomad for a couple months, experiencing another culture, specially one rooted in Buddhism and one that has slow living at its core, forced me to see that it wasn't just me, everyone in Portugal was very anxious. Thanks for the vid, it was a rare treat to see this in your newseltter
O que é que fazias lá? Edição de vídeo ?
Tenho 20 anos e passei 1 mês na Polónia e apercebi-me do mesmo, imagino que quanto mais tempo aguentar cá no nosso belíssimo país, mais ansioso vou ficar.
@@goncalomiguel4687 mano eu morei um ano na Polónia e odiei. Aquilo la causava-me o triplo da ansiedade
@@supernarfi i guess depende do sítio, estive em wroclaw mas mais perto de Długopole Górne, entao era bastante remoto e pacifico vou ser sincero.
Acredito que equale a viver em Évora ou algo assim
@@goncalomiguel4687 eu morei 6 meses numa vila minúscula chamada Sokołowsko, na fronteira com a República Checa, na mesma voividia que Wrocław. Era uma vila no meio das montanhas a 30min de qualquer cidade, aquilo era só floresta, viados e raposas. Os outros 6 meses morei em Cracovia. Mesmo no centro. Viajei pela Polónia toda, passei muito tempo em Wrocław. A minha experiência foi profundamente horrível em todo o lado.
Great piece, thank you and congratulations! 👏🏻 As a Portuguese person who has lived outside the country for most of my life, I resonate deeply with your documentary. I absolutely love my homeland, especially the way you beautifully describe ‘beaches and cappuccinos (galão) on cobbled streets.’ However, I have often struggled with the mentality of many of my peers.
This divide within Portuguese society is poignantly illustrated in Luis de Camões' poetry in 'The Lusiadas,' particularly through the character of 'o velho do Restelo,' who implores those setting sail with Vasco da Gama to reconsider due to the inherent dangers. I have always seen myself as a discoverer, often critical of the ‘velhos do Restelo’ around me.
Your documentary brings me a sense of peace. It’s thanks to those ‘velhos do Restelo’ left behind that Portugal remains a predictable, peaceful, and culturally rich country, always providing me with a safe harbor when I return.
Deeply resonated with your comment. I’m also one of the brave ones who left…but saudade is always a part of us!
As a portuguese, there's something I'd like to add to the discussion. Something that only popped in my mind whilst watching this video. Since we were kids we all heard stories about the grandiosity of our nation back from when we were one of the most powerful empires in the world. Even though we don't think about it actively, I suppose that left us with a feeling of failure, maybe. Our pinnacle has long passed. And, if you take into account the social-economic setting of our country nowadays, you'll see that as much as we want to achieve that grandiosity again, it's borderline impossible.
@@MlleKnobs If that were to be the case, than the british and spanish people would be completely depressed - not to mention the turkish or the greek. They’re are all very proud of their past achievements, nonetheless…
That sense of grandiosity comes from colonizer mentality. Be more mindful.
@@lucaslouzada44Glorified theives is what they are. Nothing to be proud about.
Iran was number 3 at the list and the same applies for Iran. Iran was also once the most powerful Nation in the world.
@@Arman-sr2guIran was a powerhouse for so long with many different names, I think they are in a league of their own.
I’ve moved from Russia to Portugal and honestly haven’t really felt this anxiety yet. At least the Portuguese have the luxury of living in a country that isn’t actively trying to kill or jail them.
But I can definitely feel like there's some atmosphere of negligence, especially in regards to public services and so on - which ironically enough reminds me a lot of Russia or Eastern Europe in general.
Ayoooo, Roman's here!!
we used to, tho, abd many people are still traumatised by that!
You're probably anxious yourself, and grew accostumed to it. Could be an explanation.
Same here, moved from Eastern Europe and I've seen and felt this anxiety first-hand when the economic crisis in the early 2010's hit the country pretty bad, so to me it always felt like this anxiety stemmed primarily from economical insecurity. But I can definitely say Portugal is far much better attitude-wise, back in my homeland the way to combat such things was for the most part to hit the bottle and turn a blind eye to the corruption.
Anxitey is usually correlated to the environment you grew up in not the environment you move to
Being a person who struggles with Anxiety ever since COVID and has a history of anxiety on his family, the end brings me to tears. It was very beautiful, and I thank you.
I'm portuguese, 54 yo, never lived abroad and i'never been anxious. My 2 cents:
The thesis that less anxiety = more inclination to leave the country is interesting but not convincing, since is a known fact that most of the times portuguese seafaring and emigration were not driven by boldness or an adventurous spirit , but by economic desperation or pure coercion (even in the 18th century, the King could forcibly recruit young men from the villages to serve in the Navy on ships to the Indies or Brazil, and most of those young peasants never returned home). In short, the Portuguese who spread their genes abroad were not necessarily the less anxious, but the most pressured by sheer necessity.
The captains of the ships were certainly daring and brave,, but these tended to return to their homeland and leave descendants here (if they hadn't taken care of that before leaving). They didn't really have the spirit of the emigrant, as the poor from northern Portugal who for centuries left forever as sailors, settlers and soldiers.
I believe that the high prevalence of anxiety in Portugal has mostly to do with economic issues and social pressure. Most Portuguese people work eight hours a day , spending at least two more hours commuting, which means stress, and this for a pay much lower than that of any worker in Western Europe, with whom the Portuguese, because of their geographical and cultural proximity, must COMPARE themselves.
Besides, the portugueses have to deal with a high time-consumming level of bureaucracy, and all manner of administrative inefficiencies, which of course means more stress and anxiety. And last but not least, our health system is absurdly trained to hand out anxiolytics as if they were sweets, which might make us wonder whether anxiety is being over-diagnosed in Portugal.
To your last point, I was waiting for Mark to address the question of whether it's just more socially acceptable to talk about anxiety and get diagnosed in Portugal compared with the rest of the western world where mental health is often hidden. But he never did.
I don't understand the difficulty in understanding that if other countries also have economic problems and there is not as much anxiety and depression, it is obvious that it goes back to the mentality. The mentality of the Portuguese is small, they do not like to take risks. That is why you see them voting for the same people and saying the same things about politicians for 40 years in a row. If the Portuguese want change, they have to do it, but as he said, the brave and fearless are not left here, so we are educated by people who think that this is fine and we are just going to complain about everything and not change anything until we die.
@@lynettejwhite Free Psycology appointments help.
And yet, a lot of those who were poor and starving never left. I do think that emmigrating requires a certain level of courage, even if they were compelled to emmigrate by external forces.
@@BrunaSilva-pn2hj Which countries? Make the comparation. Are you comparing to whom? Be specific!
On a trip to Lisbon, a tut tut driver told me that the rent costs as a % of monthly earnings were the highest in Europe. I'd say that's a very important factor.
I booked the city break through a travel agents but the room was basically an air b&b style apartment. The locals are being priced out by tourists.
Say it out loud for the people in the back and the ones giving philosophical explanations for something so simple and obvious.
And the ones stating "its the economy" are simply wrong. Its corruption (the main one), gentrification, low salary, poor working policies. Its no surprise they call Portugal "the India of Europe" because we give excellent work for too little money and people are realizing that and deciding to emigrate. And the governmenr is fucking dumb because it is slowly letting super qualified individuals flee the country and instead get rich somewhere abroud while also giving money to another country.
@@anarita1233it is interesting their theory, but i totally understand
Bear in mind that it is the locals who are setting the prices for the tourists. So they are being priced out by themselves, not by tourists. Economics are a factor, for sure, but having been here for 5yrs, I would say it is MUCH deeper ingrained than that, because many poor countries don't have this exceptionally heavy, sad feel to them
@@simplylive2466 I think it has to do a lot with corruption too. As for the economy, the problem is that no matter how hard working we may be most of it consists of services, mainly food - no wonder why we have so many caffes here - unlike other countries that rely more on industry.
And yes, I would be way less stressed rn if I didn't have to share the flat I live in with 4 different random ppl. My bedroom is a cubicle with zero noise isolation, I can hear everything they do. Its terrible.
Portuguese here. I don't agree. I just hate being poor. Obrigada.
So does every country poorer than us. They don't top the anxiety list though
Thank you. I'm so thankful for the actual Portuguese people commenting. It's like theres a video from nonportuguese saying "culture" "genetics" when nearly all the actual Portuguese people commenting are saying, nah it's economic conditions
@@MaidikIslarjthe "anxiety list" is suspect it's not scientific or valid. How do they define "anxiety"? There is no valid "list" so the "basis" of this video is flawed
@@tw8464 There's no objective list but there are approximations and metrics like the one's referred to in the video.
It's obvious there's something quite peculiar about our outlook on life
Portugal women have also the lowest libido in Europe. What's very shocking
Portuguese here. Who has had social anxiety affect his life massively.
This made a lot of sense to me.. I feel like I may have left this video understanding a little more myself.
I appreciate your words in the last bit of the video. Together with Carminho's beautiful voice and lyrics, tears came to my eyes.
Thank you
Edit: this may vary from person to person, but Portugal's mentality and the way people are so judgemental, also contributed to whatever i battle with in my little brain. Thus, my goal and dream is to leave one day. Because all my life I felt like I'd be happier and more free somewhere else. This may contradict with what has been theorised in the video, but then again, there are all sorts of different anxieties.
They say it affects also the sexuality. Is that true?
Thanks, Mark. I enjoyed your refreshing and bold analysis. As a psychiatrist myself, I'm about to match your boldness with another hypothesis that perhaps the Portuguese enjoy being anxious and miserable. Hear me out.
It isn't unusual for cultures to embrace or even glorify certain behaviours that appear dysfunctional from the outside. The Americans, for example, are fanatics of freedom, guns, and war. This is tied to their desperate attempt to escape English rule since the founding of their republic. The Chinese are highly frugal, most probably due to the famine that killed millions during the revolution. And then there are the Portuguese, who are exquisitely nostalgic due to their seafaring history that saw loved ones depart. I loved the Fado music, by the way. Mm... fills me with sadness and longing.
Perhaps it is an unfortunate accident that the feelings of the Portuguese were partially or wholly captured by the DSM-5, which gave it a name called "generalized anxiety disorder". The name itself is pretty, well, general. This raises the importance of perspective and the dangers of pathologizing something that has a perfectly good explanation for.
Drapetomania, for example, was a disorder that was proposed to describe people fleeing captivity. Enslavers once believed that slavery improved the lives of their slaves and that to flee was utterly crazy!
That said, cultures shouldn't be immune to criticism just because of historical precedents. Through time and generations, people will evolve and adapt. This explains why Portugal overthrew their dictator in exchange for a democratic government. My Chinese parents, for example, love a good bargain and are willing to be conniving to achieve that end. Yet, they are never happy with their purchases because of a rampant paranoia of being short-changed (aka the scarcity mindset). I believe in paying people a fair price and being satisfied with what you have, even though this notion is totally foreign to them.
I imagine that for some (not all) Portuguese, the feeling of Saudade, although painful, is worth cherishing. Forcing them into therapy would be as ridiculous as forcing my paranoid parents into treatment. They deserve help like everyone else, but they also need to consider that getting help might erode their identity as Portuguese.
Most people will put up with A LOT of misery for the sake of preserving their identity because there is no pain more unbearable than not knowing who you are.
Food for thought. Keep em videos coming!
Edit: sorry, someone mentioned that the Portuguese didn't overthrow their dictator. He died of natural causes. But it was telling that they went with a democratic government after.
In Eckhart Tolle's impenetrable words, they become self-identified with the pain body. It's not that they like it, per se, rather it is what they know and have settled into. It is what the they expect, so it becomes their normal.
As a Portuguese I say this is a very good perspective that I would agree with. There is a difference between anxiety and self-proclaimed anxiety.
We have to be very careful on how we use history to explain psychology, as our views of history tend to be overly reductive and specially when we talk about feelings or culture. Salazar's regime glorified Fado, Descobrimentos, Fátima so as to have a stronger national identity than we actually did.
I agree with most of your points but disagree with is your framing of "getting help might erode their identity". Putting up with misery for the sake of preserving your identity is a failure to acknowledge your thought patterns and a failure to grow and be open minded beyond what you were born into. I believe we shouldn't be so tied to our identities to such an extent, specially not our national ones. It's perfectly possible to love Fado and saudade without the anxiety aspect of it to impact you negatively.
This isn't to say that DSM and the current psychology system may fail to acknowledge this and over diagnose or even overmedicate. These are the first things you should look into when you see an outlier country and Mark seems to have ignored it. More diagnosing tends to be hugely related to the access to mental health than before. I even argue that studies like the percentage of anxious college students also reflect on culture and how we use language. I think we portuguese use anxiety and depression to describe how we feel a lot more than other countries. Even when it's mild anxiety.
Just a small, but maybe important, detail: we didn't overthrow our dictator. He died in 1970. The years that followed his death were somewhat chaotic and culminated on a revolution on the 25th of April 1974, which was a pacifist one (also called the Carnation Revolution). Almost no shots were fired during that day.
@@feneco2 oh, thanks for correcting me.
Caro Mark obrigado pelo seu vídeo. Gostei muito. Sou Português e também sofro de ansiedade. Achei muito interessante a sua contextualização genética relativamente aos tempos históricos das nossas descobertas (ou achamentos!) nos anos 1500. Mas sem dúvida que actualmente as questões financeiras têm um grande peso nas famílias e nos jovens que se querem autonomizar e serem independentes dos seus pais e não conseguem. Continuação de bom trabalho.
Agree 🙌 💯
Hello! I left Portugal 10 years ago and I still struggle with anxiety. 😅
I think economically Portugal is not a good country. If you are an adult, single and with a minimum wage, you can't leave you parents house.
And another thing that was not talked about. Until early 2000's adults educated kids with violence, even your teachers could hit you. Kids were growing up with fear disguise as respect for adults. Also, Portuguese parents are very protective (probably because of their own anxiety) they will tell you all the things that can go wrong, and not let you live/experience it(of course not everyone is like that but many are) I think that helps a lot with anxiety.
so so true
@@MissCagoita Totally true
Is there anywhere in the world a single young person can live by themselves in a major city while making minimum wage? I would love to know where.
@@sandrotravessa2284 well portugal reached a point that not even a room is doable. You can still rent a room in London as you are starting your career
It was the same here in the US through the 1980s. Our teachers spanked us and paddled us. Nuns and priests probably did this more often. Corporal punishment in schools is still legal in Texas.
Best wishes to Portugal and Portuguese people. You guys are awesome.
Obrigado. 😅
There was war 50-55 years ago, Ultramar, at the former-colonies, which fought for independence. Wasn't a war at home, but many lost loved ones, got PTSD, lost everything became refugees in Portugal with all the associated pressure for housing & jobs + plus a bit of cultural clash.
You are right, those who returned to Portugal in the 75s suffered a cultural shock as Portugal in the rural interior lived in the Middle Ages. There was no modern road network and the towns and villages were very backward. Most people emigrated to the suburbs of Paris (Vaudeville), or Germany and subjected themselves to a miserable life. Another thing that surprised us, returned, was the illiteracy of the majority of the population on the continent.
Salazar prevented portuguese people living in former colonies from sending their financial income to Portugal.
Ps: most Portuguese from Angola and Mozambique in 1975 went to Brazil and South Africa as Portugal was very poor.
That war compared to so many wars was meh! 10000 kia in 15 years, it's less than a week in e.g. russian-ukraine war. And talking about trauma, those russians' hostory is basically 100% trauma, and yet we're #1 in anxiety.
With that said, it wasn't the ultramar war that made us who we are and definitely not #1 in anxiety.
I retired to Portugal from the US years ago. Your video explains a lot. Very interesting. That being said, I love living here, love the people, and prefer Portuguese anxiety to the festering anger I saw building among Americans. Here there is no road rage, no screaming at service workers, very little complaining about long lines or everyday minor mistakes, and minimal crime. The complaints are usually about the politicians, but that has always been Europe. Very mellow for an anxious nation.
Fellow immigrant from America here. I agree with you.
But you are wrong. I´m portuguese and our anxiety comes from a feeling of constant irrational fear. Largely because of the dictatorship in which the people of the past lived. The new generations of portuguese people continue to live in fear because of the education that they receive from their parents, even if unconsciously! The fact that we don't complain about the services, the services (like americans), already denotes a huge lack of courage, as we always complain about things that we cannot change immediately or perhaps we will never be able to change. The political scenario doesn't change just with conversations and complaints in the coffee shop, change by doing something everyday. And politics is everything, including the way we are served in all types of services. There is still a dictatorial culture in Portugal in all spheres without anyone noticing! And portuguese people only know how to live if someone knows how to give orders.
I'm glad you're enjoying your retirement here, but "Here there is no road rage, no screaming at service workers, very little complaining about long lines" makes me think that you've moved to a completely different country than the Portugal I've lived in my entire life. Either that or you've never spent a significant amount of time in the city, staying only in smaller more secluded areas.
it's the same in the countryside lol the Portuguese love their daily dose of road of rage@@static_motion
There was minimal crime until mass imigration started a few years ago. It's still generally safe but I'm afraid in 10 years it's not going to be like this anymore.
Amazing!! Portuguese national and resident, I studied history and am a fanatic for social dinamics and have recently decided to indulge more into psychology. And this is an amazing and beautifull autopsy of the portuguese spirit, tradition and psychology.
That beauty of the pain of what as gone by is very much a feeling people live with here.
I do love my country and it's history and the beauty of this documentary brings me to tears as I am also fighting with mental health issues.
And in a sense your words are inspiring me to acknowledge what has been given to me by those who came before me but also remenber the courage of those who left, of those who were bold and become an adventurer like my forefathers and not let the burden of those long past keep me down.
Thank you very much for this.
P.S: you gained a new subscriber
I hear in your words and also in Mark's (but he didn't address it explicitly) that mental health is shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, individually, societally and nationally. If we can reevaluate those stories and find in them more compassion, more hope, and more empowerment, then I believe we can heal our mental health.
És um idiota em aceitar um video assim tão acriticamente.
As Ukrainian-Portuguese who moved to Portugal 32 years ago I cried at the end.This video teared up my heart.
I absolutely loved this documentary-type video! I can't wait for more. 😄
This video was very interesting because it presents a hypothesis that goes beyond the usual cliches and stereotypes that can be easily disproved. It is also great to see comments challenging this and raising other questions, such as the potential effect of over diagnosing mental illnesses or even the way the original study was conducted, despite the multitude of comments reverting back to the old tropes and cliches. Hopefully it can stir up a deeper discussion around this subject.
Hello, I'm one of those Portuguese who emigrated (Dublin, Ireland) for a better life.
I would say that rather than looking at the past, the biggest problem comes when facing the present and the hope for the future, how the trends (specially economical) make the problem of anxiety in portuguese.
In the end of the 80s, 90s and beginning of 2000s Portugal was booming in terms of economy, it was a country in which the prices were relatively low, high availability of food and the wages were just a bit below, on average, from what they are now.
However, then since it became such a good destination for holidays and also to live, more and more immigration specially from eastern europeans and PALOPs, which was a good thing.
The problems started with the currency change to Euro. Portugal never recovered from that change and it went downhill ever since. Tying that with increasing corruption, increasing lack of transparency in the government and massive bloating of public services in general (in the name of trying to improve the services by hiring more employees and of trying to convince the tax payer that some new public services were essential, or at least "nice to have") the result was the following:
- The average person living in Portugal has to pay from his taxes public services he will probably never use and never asked for, a public service where people managing it were hired from being friends with politician x and y so they get massive wage and don't know how to do their job and also how to do it efficiently (since its public the state can give as much as asked).
What did that lead to: Increase taxes, add new taxes to steal more from the tax payer and fund the things the tax payer didnt ask to have.
This is the cycle the country is having for the last 20 years and the trend is shown on the economic stats of the country: 3 times bankrupt, debt over 100% of GDP, stagnated GDP which when looking at inflation % (which is higher every year than GPD growth (if and when it grows)), means that people are losing money. So wages are stagnated, prices increase and most of that increase ends up in the state, since the tax % already increase since its % of the price with inflation, but also with those increases in tax mentioned above to "pay the public services"
So, the situation gets worse every year, what also gets worse? Young people like me graduate from school and university ( I have masters in software engineering) and then look at the market in Portugal for working in IT.
Wages of below 1k as junior in IT after tax. Rents of almost that value for a small room in Porto or Lisbon (so your wage will afford you a tiny bedroom and doesnt even make you afford to do shopping for groceries). What do you do when you see countries like Ireland, Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland offering 3-6k wage? You move.
What happens? Young people move out, elderly stay since they have their house, they have their retirement. However, less tax payers so less money for those public services you remember from previously on my comment that nobody other than the politician and their friends asked for? Guess what they do - increase more the taxes.
Oh and increases in minimum wage to level down every job to the point that Portugal is one of the countries with the least gap between minimum wage and average wage in Europe. It got to the point where portuguese people never mention average wage. They compare countries by minimum wage, because they are automatically thinking that people in other countries also earn minimum wage.
That's the real reason for the increased anxiety in Portugal! It's watching our fathers being able to afford a lot more than us when they were our age, they raise us thinking that now its so much better than before and so much easier to live. It's not knowing anymore if you're able to afford to study and after finishing if you can get a job somewhere and if that job is good enough to survive, not to mention have a life.
Very little to do with the most distant past. Portugal actually didnt have wars like other countries, the last battles it had was when the french revolution tried to conquer Portugal and failed 3 times. Other than that, Portuguese people were involved in WW1 and in Colonial war but all outside Portugal so the only casualties were the men coming back or the ones who didnt come back home, but far from what France, Germany and specially Eastern Europe experienced, men women and children, bombs going off near their houses, war tanks, gulags, gas chambers, losing your house, possessions Portugal didnt have.
I'm a 39 year old Portuguese emigrant (living in Germany for the last 8 years).Despite the difficult conditions of our economy, it made no sense to me how anxious people were in Portugal (me included), especially when compared to people from other countries in similar circumstances. Thank you for putting it into words.
Do you find that working for a German organization/corporation makes you less anxious? I'm curious. I suspect the answer is 'yes'. My thesis is that one of the causes of the endemic Portuguese anxiety is the lack of organization - societal, corporate, governmental.
@@Dwer172 I feel the same, the less capable stay behind and so we have very incompetent managers across the board. It's really stressful trying to keep up when things aren't put in place in a way that fosters success
I’m also a Portuguese emigrant living in Germany, working for a large German car manufacturer and I agree with your comments.
I am Portuguese, and I thank you from the bottom of my soul for speaking up. THIS IS AMAZING. NEVER, BUT NEVER DELETE THIS.
Mark, I’ve been a fan of your writings for years and I happen to be Portuguese. Just want to say: THANK YOU. OBRIGADO 🧡
I am from Arkansas. My family is from rural Arkansas and rural Oklahoma. I really relate to these stories and this low level constant anxiety and pressure to conform. The fear to take any risks was distilled into me before I could speak. Looking at my parents lives and their parents lives I see that this sit still be quiet mentality was adaptive for their lives. Especially for the women who went through constant sexual and domestic abuse. This fear was passed to me and made me vulnerable and dependent on others. I eventually went through the same abuse as my mother and my mother's mother. Constant low level fear and nightmares paralyze independence and risk taking. I want my life to be different from their's but the instinct to prepare for the worst is the main driving force despite my constant desire for an interesting and fulfilling life full of travel and novel experiences.
Fear keeps people dependent. Fear is control. When you're constantly in fear how can you take risks?
Dv is still a problem in Portugal, the pressure to conform especially from old people is still quite big at most they become apathetic with sometimes making remarks about it😂
Women especially have it harder because they seem to not do anything right in the eyes of elders, they carry a reputation to some Portuguese and foreigners men for been difficult even compared to Spaniards
if you're not afraid you should be
@@santostv. good we need more shame. It's rather odd he didn't talk about Portugal to be the only country to decriminalize drugs? Many countries have similar economies to Portugal. This sounds like it was engineered using media and propaganda.
I'm Portuguese-- "The fear to take any risks was distilled into me before I could speak. Looking at my parents lives and their parents lives I see that this sit still be quiet mentality was adaptive for their lives." - this is a fantastic summary of how I grew up
well Portugal did experience major wars in the last 100 years (maybe not world war 2), but wars that had a severe effect on the country and it's people, the colonial wars. It's very rare to find a male over 60 years that does not have trauma with the brutal colonial wars faugth during salazar's regime. Not only was the portuguese goverment spending 20% of its GDP fighting in angola mozambique and guinea, but also sending all of its youth to fight in africa.
Thank you for saying that. My dad was one of them. The funny thing is he's extremely anxious but also a risk taker. I don't think these are mutually exclusive traits.
Exactly!!!
It has severe trauma passed on to our generation
We experienced WW One!
@@andregeo13 You are right, but ww1 was over 100 years ago
Portugal didn't experience any war since the French revolution tries. Portuguese people were involved in wars but the land didnt get affected.
The eastern european countries have experienced both WW2 and communism until the 90s including wars for independence from the USSR (which people died, lost houses, lost everything they had including lands, farms, food) and have way less anxiety than Portugal.
So that argument is not the best at all.
Edit: I wrote the comment below midway through the video. I just finished it and the genetics cause blew my mind 🤯 so interesting!
Mark, what would it take for you to do world psychology videos on many more countries? I'm HERE for it! 🙌 💯
Original comment 👇
Thank you, Mark! 🙏 I'm really enjoying these inquiries into the psychology of different nations, loved the one on South Korea as well - hope to see more!
I second that, 🙌 💯
Not Portuguese but I am a repeat visitor. My favourite country on Earth. I believe to be born Portuguese is to win the jackpot. 🇵🇹❤
I'm portugue. I agree
Portuguese here and I wanna get out. Without counting with the weather this is a shithole. No opportunities. You're disposable. Small minded. The problem isn't the country itself the problem are the people.
Populaçao do cala e come do crl.
Compared to the smaller colder countries we could be like them and we are not cuz of our shitty mentality.
If this shithole of a country would have gotten wiped out of the map no one would even realize since it's not worth anything.
If I could change anything it would be nationality. My ancestors were from Germany/Scandinavia not long ago what the fuck am I doing here. They made a poor decision.
JACKPOT IM GREEK
Love that, but try to live with a Portuguese minimum wage.
As a Portuguese living abroad, I'm not sure about that. But thank you anyway.
Let's GOOOO a video about Portugal's anxiety! 😂 that was something I was NOT expecting. Great job
woop woop!
Lack of sleep plays a role. The Portuguese drink coffee all the time, the main TV shows finish at midnight, and young generations go out clubbing on weekends from midnight to 6am, yes, 6am!!!
Note Fado was not a mainstream music genre 100 years ago. Was actually something only played at brothels or tascas. Traditional popular Portuguese music is actually very lively and happy (Rancho).
Agree with the fact that the 20% most risk takers of every generation move abroad.
Being portuguse it's amazing to see such a nice report!
This documentary should be seen all over Portugal
Muito obrigado, for the contribution in our lifes!
As a 25 year old Portuguese, I feel this deeply! I've been following the pull to leave & search for a better environment since I'm 19. It's hard, the believe system in Portugal is strong and being influenced by conformity of friends and family very real. The fear of risks daunting to the ones that love us and following the norm applauded by all. I always felt deeply misunderstood & trapped with this mentality. The people think I am crazy and immature//too idealistic for wanting to strive for a better life in terms of work-life balance, as well as a friendly relaxed culture.
When I was in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, that's when it strike me. I am not crazy, it's the culture that doesn't even think other ways of life are possible. In the 2 countries I could see that they live normally what I always dreamed of - no chronic anxiety.
Thank you for connecting the dots Mark, this is important 🙏🏻
Hey Mark. WOW. This was a remarkably serendipitous experience, both coming across and watching this analytical documentary. Maybe big thanks to current algorithmic determination, but oddly this video essay keys into so many interests I have on a personal level. I'm an ex-pat New York musician who lives in Norway, and who has had a fascination with Portuguese culture and history since I first went there in 2006 to play a small tour (which was the first of 7). I love the people, the language, the music, the food, the (universally humanistic) concept of saudade, and how all of these elements and many more are woven together in that beautiful land like an intricate, complex fabric.
All that aside, I am also someone who has struggled with both chronic anxiety (thank you NYC on and after 9/11) and the recovery from addictive behaviors (alcohol). As a personal release, I have been privileged to have my music keep me afloat, songs which tend to be somewhat dark and melancholic. Hence my attraction to both Fado and the word saudade.
I once read someplace that saudade can be best described as "the love that remains," which makes total sense to me. I perceive saudade to be that bittersweet slightly good and warm sensation while experiencing a melancholic, nostalgic feeling of sorrow, often combined with a sense of loss. Haha. It's indeed a difficult word to articulate into English, but as many Portuguese speakers seem to attest to, it's indeed very Portuguese, but also a very irate, universal human sentiment. (As a musician, I was so impacted by the word and the concept behind the word that I even decided to title an LP I released back in 2014 as "Saudade.")
Anyway, watching this video was an unexpectedly delightful and gratifying ride which touched on so many things dear and personal to me, and yet also upon so much more. Although I have been pretty familiar with your books and your channel, I simply didn't see this one coming. Lots for people to discuss, agree and disagree on here, but at least this kind of debate is what we humans should cherish. Thanks for giving us all so much to contemplate with your research. I really, really enjoyed watching this one.
Those moments when you notice Mark making an effort to pronounce words in european portuguese rather than in the brazilian manner.
When in Rome...
Not Portugal portuguese, rather Brasil Portuguese.
As an Italian who has been living in Portugal for 10 years, this makes a lot of sense. I’ve never met so many people under anti-depression meds as in Portugal.
"Saudade" is a complex feeling of nostalgia, longing, and melancholy that is deeply embedded in Portuguese culture. When people experience saudade, they may find themselves comparing their current situation with a romanticized version of the past or with an idealized vision of what they wish life could be. This tendency can also extend to comparing themselves with others or with cultural ideals of success, happiness, and fulfillment on other countries. Over time, this can amplify feelings of dissatisfaction or reinforce a perception of "something missing."
Moreover, Portuguese culture is rich with historical achievements and a deep connection to past accomplishments, from the Age of Exploration to unique artistic traditions. This cultural pride can subtly encourage comparisons, as people measure their current realities against these past triumphs or imagined ideals.
In essence, saudade creates an emotional space where comparison is almost inevitable, as it invites people to reflect on what they’ve lost, missed, or wished for-sometimes fostering a quiet, introspective and melancholic form of comparison that is central to Portuguese identity, IMO.
That's a lot of talk to put the cows to sleep. Unless you are from the Lisbon region, no one identifies with the description you gave. The people of Lisbon live like foreigners in their own land, far from Portuguese culture, which is why they are sour and melancholic. The anxieties of the Portuguese people lie in excessive working hours, low wages and lack of time to spend with family and friends. Especially now that Portugal is a country of tourism and shopping centers, most Portuguese people have completely insane working hours and so it is impossible for them to get together with family and friends, as no one's days off coincide with each other. This creates a lot of anxiety among the population as we are a very social people. We are tired of being exploited serving the public and having to postpone our lives forever, we don't have money to leave our parents home. That's it.
Wow I get this feeling I’m from UK and yeh it’s all about comparison so that needs to be stopped or managed , everybody life is different.
@@Minu-lv1rk it doesnt make any sense when you look at the data. Futhermore the second most anxious country in the world according to the video is Brazil, a former portuguese colony. It would be interesting to have studies in other former colonies to know if they are as anxious.
FINANCIAL STRES!!! You can't risk much while you're barely making ends meet!
This is really what I see in people around me while actually living here. You ruled it out based on income, but I completely disagree. The okay-ish apartment rent: 900€, most of jobs: 1000€ (the minimal wage 820€). This alone is stressful AF. The prices are rising, because there is always someone coming from other economies, thinking that paying this amount is cheap. Apart from that, the nicest apartments, with some room and green spaces are eaten by the Airbnb market.
Plus, because of tourism, the city centers became unhabitalbe; there's no businesses left that is fulfilling an actual human need apart from the touristic ones. White light souvenir stores with cheap products and the extravagant world of sardines.
exactly. He could have asked the Portuguese upper class if they feel anxious and his entire brilliant theory would have collapsed.
Yeah , that explanation of the psychiatrist about Portugal’s anxiety problem portrayed in this video , sounds very logical , simple and plausible.
This video delved very deeply into a deep subject .
Oh Mark, economic issues play a huge role in the way we feel, especially the young people. Although the data seems to show an OK situation regarding that, the truth is that we are poorer and have no future perspectives. Many young people just can+t leave their parent's house until they're 30 or more. We cannot afford housing. The prices have risen but our salaries not so much. Lisbon has the most functional homeless people (people who sleep on the streets and then go to work because they can't afford a place to stay; full families). I loved all the other points you made; it was really clever, but I do think that economic instability might be the main reason for our poor mental health.
Incredibly interesting! I am Polish, my husband is Portuguese. Our countries are so similar in many ways, but so different at the same time. I never understood why despite the history of all the wars and communism my country is much more positive and looking outward. This would make a lot of sense !
Well, Poland is another nation well known for their exodus and strong traditional culture
Yes, for decades, many of the most adventurous Poles left for America and western Europe
@@alastairtheduke I guess the point here is that this happened to Portugal for over many centuries, while for Poland is a relatively new thing
The point was that it was mostly the wars in Europe and the communist rule that took care of the genetic cleanup. Also the hope for the better and continued resistance and fight for freedom build up more positive forward looking attitudes. We didn’t need to leave, that’s why whilst the culture is similar, the mentality of people and attitudes are different.
@@alese7345 Have you ever read about Polish history and how the country was not there on the maps for over 100 years until 1st WW?
Thank you! I’m a 48 year old Portuguese, born and raised, currently in California. This brought tears to my eyes.
I'm a portuguese expat, left in 2018. Saudade is a defining word in my life for sure, this documentary of course brought me to tears as I see my beautiful country that I left behind, and the little hope that I will ever return for good. From my experience, those who stay are left to battle a sense of hopelessness and hardship regarding the future of our nation, while those of us who leave are left torn between their home/family/culture and the desire to have a better life. I feel grief for the idealised Portugal I grew up in, now realising it's gone, it never existed, and even when I visit I feel a sense of loss as I take in the harsh reality of my Portugal I had to leave behind. Having lived abroad for nearly 7 years now, I miss (saudade) my country so bad, but I cannot imagine going back, almost like being in a permanent break up with someone you deeply love but whom you must move on from.
Beautifully written. Loved reading it. I know how hard it is to miss Portugal. I left it for 30 years but I came back…. We always do come back….. SAUDADE
Resumiste aquilo que sinto tão bem. Obrigada
Faço as tuas palavras minhas! Um abraço!
Lindo
Spot on… I returned after 10 years and I feel hopeless and life feels like nonsensical here. I wish I had never come back.
They take a lot of anxiety medication but that doesn’t mean they really need it!! I love Portugal! Beautiful country!! Very abundant in resources! It’s a gold mine!!! People are wonderful!! Kind and with open heart! True people. ❤
Obrigado. From the bottom of my heart, obrigado.
There are a thousand illuminated souls here whose first instinct was to rush to the comment section to write "Uhm, actually"s. I will not. This has shaken me to my core. And Gustavo's theory is brilliant.
Thank you for the exposé, american.
This video made me think in my country’s culture in a point of view I had never considered
As a young citizen of Portugal I appreciate you so much for producing this very thoughtful and insightful video
Same here!
I’m Portuguese, but Fado was never a thing in my region at all, but in every video about Portugal they bring up Fado…I don’t recall anyone listening to or singing Fado growing up. Instead, Ranchos and Desgarrada were the popular musical styles in my region and they are far from sad.
Exactly. The BS that fado is a national this is just really BS. If you're outside Lisbon, when was the last time you've heard Fado. Fado is not a Nacional thing, is a Lisbon thing.
I'm interested in hearing some of the Desgarrada and Ranchos artists you listen to.
@@greggpearlman1879 Desgarradas are very bold and dirty, proper portuguese style rap battles
Nunca foste a uma casa de fado então? O fado é procurado, não aparece do nada.
@@ohdude6643 If you are portuguese, you should know that the Fado de Coimbra also exist, is not all about Lisboa.
I’m a Portuguese as well, I absolutely adored this video, congratulations, and I’m glad to see the respect you held for “Saudade” and the feeling of Saudade and Fado and its culture. Well done!
Some points about this video. The methods used to collect the data to rank countries by anxiety is prone to extreme error. That shoud have been one of the main talking points. Self report is particularly prone to a number of bias. More stoic/colder countries will never self report correctly, while more emotional countries will probably over report it. There also a huge problem how people think about anxiety. Being anxious, by it self, is normal. It is a remnant of our fight or flight response since being a caveman. If you are studying for an important test, or have an upcoming job interview, you will be anxious, sometimes weeks before. That is not a disease. The actual medical disease group of anxiety disorders is when this anxiety has no obvious cause or trigger, and becomes a constant (cronic) disease having a huge impact on quality of life. Our lifestyle of constant small stress exposition could be the reason this desregulation of the response happens, as the doctor in the video was explaining, which im not sure the author of the video fully comprehended. Furthermore, there are many unrelated symptoms that could be cause my a constant state of anxiety that people often do not correlate with anxiety. A second interesting fact that sadly this video also missed, is how the medical field treats anxiety. Obviously, the first step is understading if it is an actual anxiety disorder, or simply, an acute response to stress which with a defined trigger, which, i repeat, is not a disease . However, this crucial first step is often overlooked even by doctors. So what ends up happening is many, many people being prescribed with Benzodiazepines (the most popular pharmacologic group) to treat this disorder. But. One of the most popular medications used, alprazolam, also known as xanax, is extremely addictive. And although today doctors are a lot more carefull with its prescription, that wasnt always the case in the past. Many people have done xanax, for relative benigne reasons, exposing them to addiction, (and a percieved state of anxiety related to the removal of the drug), and all the side effects of the medication. Portugal was a breeding ground for this. There is also a lot that could be said about how anxiety disorder and depression are often found together in the same patient, which creates a degree of complexety most studies completely ignore. If you ask someone with depression if they are anxious, they will say yes most of the time, and that will only be true, sometimes. Again, studies can lie. As a doctor, i have a lot of respect for psycology, but this video needed to embrace psychiatry a lot more to reach any amount of a decent conclusion which it did not. The most important step is probably make the diagnosis of anxiety, and what is and isnt a disorder. In the end, this is a well made video, but ends up being shallow and only grazing the issue. Which often leads to the perpetuation of misinformation even if its not the goal of it at all. And as a final touch, you excluded loneliness and social isolation way too soon and easily. Specialy among younger patients. Having a strong support structure arround a person is one of the most beneficial counters to many mental health issues including anxiety. Humans are social. And it might seem young people are more social then ever, but they are not. Social media isnt it. Far from it. Despite cities being more crowded then ever, people never felt so lonely. And although this doesnt apply to portugal alone, its one of the probable causes students report higher amounts of anxiety then other groups. There is no single cause that leads to portugal being number one. Personaly, i belive the self report statistics are irrelevant, but it is true portugal has a huge mental health issue. They are probably in line with most western countris though which are suffering the same fate. Any attempt to make this problem simple with one probable cause, will always lead to failure.
P.s Its bonkers to say the fatima we know today was financed by pilgrims. Cute story though. Despite happening before Estado Novo, fatima grew to what we know today during salazar regime. And it is no coincidence. Its weird because you said it your self. The 3Fs. Its obvious who actualy financed the construction of fatima and why. Very weird thing to say in the middle of the video. The artificial selection theory is strange as well. Portugal colonial strategy, belive it or not, was not comprised by mass emigration but mostly strategic control of trade posts and forts. Not that many people actualy left portugal to the colonies because we were a small country to begin with. Kings banned it because we did not have the manpower to sustain it. In the end i have no idea where the graph at 23:27 came from. Cant find the source. And if the theory was correct, the other colonizers, the ones that ACTUALY extensively used the strategy of colonization of the new world with settlers, such as spain and the UK, would be the ones top of the list as well. The fact brasil, portugal biggest colony, is second on the list, doesnt help this theory either. The idea that the anxious and afraid do not run to the new world is controversial. Staying is often a risk as well, and risk takers is a very broad imprecise definition. But im no psycologist so i will refrain from comenting. Genetics could have a role, but not because of a story of artificial selection during the age of discovery. The entire videos conclusion fails to explain why young people in particular are feeling so anxious. They are not religious (atheism is on the rise), they are not traditional (on average and compared to their parents), they werent alive at the time of political repression, and they are prone to taking more risks than their parents which is why so many emigrate to begin with. Once again, the conclusion tries to make a complex problem simple which leads to a complete failure to seriously discuss this topic.
Read Hofstede. His questions on uncertainty avoidance were shrewd and left no room for lying. Portugal is 2nd in anxiety in his 8ndex since 1972 and continues to be
@@paulomendes4892Portugal has massive emigration and keeps going.
Move to other country doesn't match anxious people
@@redleeks6253it does,when their own country is the enemy
Great answer!
Young people are never traditional...but after a few years...
The best measure of anxiety is by Hofstede and portugal was 2nd behind Greece, since 1973
Most of the people that left in colonial times and were supposedly amongst the least anxious went to Brazil. So if your artificial selection theory is true, then Brazil would be one of the least anxious countries, and yet it is actually second place in your list. Thus, culture must play a much stronger role.
How much of the Brazil population are descendants of the immigrants from Portugal?
Brazilians have been anxious since 7-1.😂😂
@@arjunps6776 LMFAO
@@arjunps6776 That was the German naturalized Chinese player Mau-Sete-Um?
@@Dwer172 obrigado pela gargalhada 🤣
"Why this is necessary?" in Fatima is your best quote on this video by far. Keep up the good work!
"Saudade" is the feeling of nostalgia mixed with longing for something or someone.
We actually use "i miss you" as "Tenho saudades tuas".
é a mesma coisa os portugueses é que sofrem propaganda que nao existe a palavra saudade quando existe em todas as linguas.
Yeah, pathetic drama 😂
@@bestvideos8038 sim fofa
This was very beautiful, as an Iranian I also relate to so many of those reasons causing anxiety in Portuguese people . I hope they change it for the better very soon
Change???
I literally moved to Portugal and my anxiety went away… married a Portuguese and hes the chilles person I know, I seriously dont know what you are talking about…
Such a beautiful documentary.
It's fascinating and jaw-dropping to see the brilliance behind Gustavo's discovery.
Those who returned from Africa in the mid-70s came back with much more open minds-not only from their close connections with South Africa and Rhodesia but also because they, or their ancestors, had taken the risk to venture abroad, into unknown lands, to build a new world.
Even today, as one of their descendants, I feel that we are wired differently-wired for risk, entrepreneurship, emmigration, and culture.
Thank you indeed for such greatness.
Bem haja!
i feel this way too. my Dad is Goan and even though he is ethnically indian and it was his ancestors 100s of years ago who are portuguese from Vasco De Gama times, he always felt more Portuguese. He fought in the portuguese armies in the 70s when Salazar promised them they would gain portuguese nationality for serving and he was so proud to get his portguese passport and emigrate to Portugal in the late 70s.
Yes indeed. Also more racist 😂 lovely to hear the stories of those open mind who used to say " we use to have those blackie helpers" "life was awesome for us there" 😂 I get it.
@@Mdias8923that was lovely?!
There’s so many ways to approach this topic. I believe you search for the answer as a foreigner, looking in what you know about Portugal, historically and cultural. Portuguese people usually don’t take breakfast, and go bed around 00:00, time in Portugal is relative so nobody can predict most of the day with certainty. It’s basically a caos a biological caos, also most of the population didn’t know how to read when the tv show up in the country, leading to an unhealthy tv consumption, mostly news with negativity that leads to more uncertainty. Anxiety becomes passion, we are passionate people dreamers looking for something bigger outside of the country. Thanks for your video. Tenho saudades do meu país!
Well said 👍🏼
You make some very valid points
E agora é o cancro das redes sociais, todos querem ser maais que os outros e mostrar isso And now it's the cancer of social media, everyone wants to be more than everyone else and show it
I am of Portuguese descent, which is why I clicked on and watched all the way through. Thank you for this thoughtful exploration. You’ve given me a lot to think about! And an urge to visit Portugal!
This was everything I subscribe to your channel for. Brilliant content!
Very well done video and, as a Portuguese, I totally agree.
Also, it might be the genes, I was in tears at the end hearing the fado. It just touches our hearts I guess...
FUN FACT: One thing I've noticed after many years abroad, unlike other countries, the radios in Portugal always pass melancholic and sad songs.
That´s not true, Portuguese radio stations play the same music as any commercial radio station in the world, but of course they also play music from the country, in fact, there is only one Fado radio station and it has only been there for a short time!
@paulocorreia7942 commercial stations, yes, obviously, whatever is popular in the world, but you can always find sad songs when you scroll through the stations. Its ingrained. Even me, Im an adventurer, rarely Im sad gratefully, but when I am, my god its deep. When I sing, the sad songs just feel so much more natural. Its inside us brother 😂
We should not underestimate the impact that music has on our moods and brain, probably as important as our genes
Congrats you're a m0ron
Fado is a traditional musical genre from the Lisbon region, it is not traditional at all in Portugal. I'm from the north of Portugal and I guarantee you that no one grows up listening to Fado... we have our own folklore that is happy and colorful.
Unless you are from the Lisbon region, no one will identify with the description you gave. The people of Lisbon live like foreigners in their own land, far from Portuguese culture, which is why they are sour and melancholic. The anxiety (which is the opposite of malancolia) of the Portuguese people exists due to excessive working hours, wages that do not allow them to survive and the lack of time to spend with family and friends. Especially now that Portugal is a country of tourism and shopping malls, most Portuguese people have completely insane working hours and therefore it is impossible for them to get together with family and friends as no one's days off coincide. We are tired of being exploited serving the public and having to postpone our lives forever, we don't have money to leave our parents home.
Wow! Amazing video, thanks! Shared with my friends and family. My mom’s side of the family immigrated to the US from Madeira in the early 1960s. One thing you should correct in the video: Portugal did in fact experience a big nasty traumatic war in recent memory, it’s part of why my family immigrated. Most people forget that Portugal had their own version of Vietnam, in Africa, the futile fight to keep the colonies in Africa claimed many thousands of lives from 1961-1974.
Thanks for sharing.
Re: war - there was a war but compared to major wars that other countries had, it was not as large or deadly, therefore it can't be an explanation for the anxiety.
I think the author ruled out a lot of things very prematurely, there are aspects of precarity in Portugal that don't appear in the aggregated statistics. Poverty is often a geographic context, simply speaking costs are higher than income, or the risk of being wiped out financially is always present. Then there are aspects of status competition and low trust, between strangers and even family members.
You van still say that about tons of countries in Europe and beyond
@@pedrotrigo895 yep, but Portugal is special in that regard. I don't live in Portugal now for some years, and that made me see the contrast between precarity in other countries and Portugal. Precarity in Portugal is similar to the UK and the US but without the same GDP per capita. And with the added bonus of being a very low trust society, and that predates even the Estado Novo years.
People are often put in a pressure cooker of expectations, conformity, high inequality and low paying jobs, plus a lot of gaslighting. People are pressured and manipulated into making bad personal choices to appease spouses, family members, bosses and the State. And often they don't have material, financial and time resources to deal with all those demands. Portugal is special in the way it domesticated people with the use of constant anxiety, I honestly feel much better outside of Portugal. Doesn't mean that it's perfect, but it seems that I can have more control over my life here than there.
@@calexico66 yes but I am not even talking the anglo countries. There are tons of countries with worse of condition monetarily speaking, than Portugal. To name a few: Greece; Georgia; all Balcan countries(except Slovenia); Eastern Europe/central asia. Yet, Portugal is on the TOP of all in regards to anxiety.
@@pedrotrigo895 because precarity isn't necessarily defined by just financial aspects, you can have less money but more familial support. You can have less money or even a bad job, but you have a piece of land to grow some food. The statistics often don't show those things that are difficult to measure. Sometimes, having someone not pressuring you with demands and the other hand giving some support can go a long way.
I was aware of many of these aspects more than 10 years ago, there is a book called the Spirit Level, and no it's not a new age book, that goes through the statistics of OCDE countries and talks about the consequences of economic inequality. And anxiety is highly correlated with inequality, but there are other aspects that aren't measured in the statistics.
These statistics are very wrong as you have a few people that earn a lot and most of the country earns less than a 1K a month.
Definitely still surviving most of the country, because the previous generation still had their own house
As a Portuguese man that lived half of my life abroad, with a longing to return, this makes a lot of sense, especially since I've returned.
Isso é porque Portugal está longe de ser o que ja foi, tendo em conta a pressão economica que passamos neste momento, e o facto da nossa cultura se estar a perder aos poucos com a imigração/turismo cada vez mais crescentes no nosso país. A explicação que ele dá no video recusa todos estes factos como sendo os factores principais para a ansiedade que se vive em Portugal.
@@joaoramos32 Mmm.. Mark was searching for a pivotal new idea, and in doing so he ignored all the very real factors that perpetuate the anxiety today.
I never understood the "longing to return". The country is good, but there are so many better places, Portugal is not worth the squeeze.
Most living abroad long to come back but often regret their decision especially if they don’t take into account the lower economic possibilities, from my anecdotal evidence is more noticeable in the younger generation meanwhile old people in or near retirement are already counting on it.
When you experience places with better salaries and work conditions, it can be hard to adjust.
Im a 33y old Portuguese and I have to say: Amazing video! Made me think about things that seem so obvious but in our daily life we don’t take the time to think about! Thank you!
The bit about saudade and fado was so fascinating. The sense of longing and loss
oh wow kudos to you for speaking portuguese. I was not expecting this video at all! Even as a portuguese Im shocked by the levels of anxiety (above 70% wow). Ah but I say all of them. There is a lot of domestic violence amongst the families but so ingrained that it's not reported. Economically we are going down the hill (teachers sleeping in cars, you can't get doctors). We work stupid long hours - for no reason other than we do a million breaks. We are also going back in terms of "the traditional families and the traditional values". We also have a culture of staying late which in turn leads to poor sleep from childhood onwards. I used to only have dinner at 20h because my parents were never home before that. In Spain is even worse in this regard. Finally, as someone who left the country more than 10y ago, indeed I relate to the % that left the country, who took the risk of leaving because it was in fact a higher risk staying behind in such a closed mindset. Seriously a really great video
I am Dutch, I live in Portugal over 8 years now and I have noticed that there is a huge difference between the Portuguese and the Dutch, the Portuguese seem to be much more scared for the GNR (police) and about the laws and rules in general. They also talk much less openly about politics and their own political views. And then one more very important thing: in the Netherlands they say "the customer is king", in Portugal everywhere you go, be it a supermarket, a bank, a doctor or a local or national institution (like a tax-office), the person working there somehow radiates some sort of superiority, you NEED to show respect right at the start to close some gap that seems to be there naturally. I think that's a heritage from the dictatorship, All these layers of power that have been created during the regime have become traditional and nobody really minds.
As a Portuguese and a psychologist I must say: amazing perspective about us, our culture and our mental health. Thank you...
P.S.: you just got a new follower/subscriber from this side of the pond...
The first interactions I had with Portuguese culture were 1. Ronaldo’s export to Manchester United. One of the “boldest and bravest” so to speak having left the country. The second thing was Fernando Pessoa’s “Book of Disquiet” which was one of the most “saudade” and “fado” texts I’ve read. Then as I grew older and travelled to Portugal and spoke with its people, it made more sense. Great video Mark!
Wow, what a transition, Ronaldo to Pessoa. It's just that they're so similar!🙂
@@paulocorreia7942
Indeed!
• Portuguese Icons: Both are celebrated symbols of Portuguese identity, each achieving global recognition-Ronaldo in sports, Pessoa in literature.
• Dedication to Craft: Ronaldo’s rigorous discipline mirrors Pessoa’s meticulous exploration of writing, showing a shared pursuit of excellence.
• Complex Personalities: Pessoa’s many literary personas reflect a complexity echoed in Ronaldo’s intense, layered public image.
• Cultural Impact: Ronaldo’s influence in pop culture complements Pessoa’s lasting impact on literature, philosophy, and identity.
• Pride in Portuguese Heritage: Both see themselves as representing Portugal on the world stage, inspiring national pride through their unique contributions.
I spend a lot of time in Portugal and this video analysis was an absolute banger to me. Thank you, Mark
Been living in Portugal for 6 years and have not noticed any anxiety at all. What I do notice however, are the traditional values and a certain backwardness. Northern Europe is much more dynamic and salaries are much higher. I think the Portuguese need to demand better from their government before they are completely left behind.
I think the most concerning part of this video was learning that some people want their mattress to heat up, that’s blasphemous
😂
I also found it both irritating and depressing to see the presenter compromise the sincerity of his work with such a base piece of marketing.
@@mimsim
What an interesting and well made video! Better than television or Netflix in my opinion 🇵🇹
4:40 we do NOT have 4 day weeks lmao, but great video
Quem me dera 😂
I'm portuguese and have lived here for 30 years. Portugal could REALLY be literally the best country in the world in all aspects. But we love misery, and choose our politicians accordingly.
Well said
No ponto! 👍
Penso exatamente o mesmo. Temos tanto potencial! Poderíamos ser um dos melhores países do mundo a tantos níveis... Mas somos fracos e de parca inteligência, assim generalizando com muita força. E claro que isso se reflecte na sociedade, e essencialmente nas escolhas que fazemos, seja na amostra de políticos que temos à disposição, como nos partidos que elegemos.
You are in need of some ultraliberalism and deregulated markets. After being the emperors of the sea, you definitely could become the kings of the world
@@coralyra Tenemos exactamente el mismo problema en España 😢
As a portuguese this video actually made me understand more things about myself, and i can indeed agree and relate to your final conclusion. But, as you said, maybe that's what makes our country pretier!
I'm Portuguese and my dad is a retired psychiatrist. Probably even a colleague of Gustavo. I've always heard my dad say "we are the descendants of those who stayed. Those who were too unfit or too cowardly to go."
I always found that something very negative to say about your own country, but i can see some truth in it. If the risk takers go out, what is left?
Or maybe we are the descendants of those who fight for the future of their children and land, and are not deserters, but loyal to their own roots? Plus, staying also means taking risks.
Being portuguese as well, this kinda makes me run away and become the ultimate risk taker all of a sudden, just to contradict the natural flow of those who stayed. Breaking free of a cycle even.
Mas o nível de ansiedade dos brasileiros também é alto! A genética ansiosa chegou aqui também haha
This gave me the chills
The grass is greener
Mark, I am blown away by this piece. I learned so much. Your work is incredible. Thank you.
This opened my eyes to so many things that I actually unconsciously realized over time after leaving Portugal 9 years ago... Like José Saramago, one of our best writers once wrote, "you have to leave the island in order to see the island".
The genetic idea is interesting, but it sounds a bit specious. Relies on claim that a) people lower in anxiety are necessarily more likely to emigrate. b) that this has had a significant effect on a gene pool centuries later. Also, a bit more could've been done here to investigate the Portuguese lifestyle, I think. Still, nice video, definitely something to think about.
Not just emigrate. Portuguese youth had to sail to the unknown and 95% died in the oceans.
I am a child of Portuguese parents and I 100% think that the genetic theory is bang on.
It is a draft theory, but interesting
And it's incongruous, because it takes anxiety to do something. Anxiety is linked to accomplishing things, it is linked to the motivation to do it, to wake up, to go after something! A bit the opposite of a human being who is relaxed about life. This one I would say is more conformist in part. I think the best thing in life is to have anxiety and be relaxed at the same time, knowing how to balance these two things within ourselves!
@@am143-g1m I think we are talking about paralyzing anxiety here.
5:44 A couple of comments: look at sleep levels, domestic abuse is measured differently by the Nordic countries and likely under reported in Portugal
Saudade means longing, manque (in French), mancanza (in italian) and the list goes on and on !
Great video! Congrats!
My father used to say that our problem had 800 years. Our country borned in a problematic relationship between mother and son. We have the oldest borders of the world, we did a revolution without violence. It seems good but is not normal.
After all it was mummy issues 😂 (send help)
This was actually my first thought. Because it's what I think explains the difference between Americans and Europeans. It's why I love Americans, they are my adventurous brothers and sisters.
What an amazing job Mark! As Portuguese, got me tears in my eyes.
I was born in Portugal, grew up abroad, and then returned in my teens (in the 90s).
It was a huge culture shock for me as I struggled to adjust to what seemed to me an odd, antiquated mindset.
As a consequence of growing up in 2 different countries, I am bilingual and actually think in both english and portuguese, alternating without really being aware of it. I have often found my portuguese thoughts to be more "fatalistic" and contrived than the more practical and pragmatic english ones.
I have also found it to be literally "harder" to think complex thoughts in portuguese due to a higher complexity in the language.
The genetic explanation seems plausible to me, but like most explanations in life, the reason why the portuguese are apparently the most anxious in the world is due to a compounding of multiple factors that all pull in that direction.
It's genetics, it's the language, it's our history, it's our mindset, to a point that it is probably embedded permanently into our culture and national identity.
But not all the adventurers in our past left for good, though. Having been a migrant, I have witnessed first-hand an innate desire in nearly every other portuguese migrant I've met to one day return to their homeland.
That's saudade. Wanderlust imbued with homesickness.
Anyway, thanks, Mark, for making a video about the portuguese.
When you're taught in school that your country once was the pioneer in the age of discoveries, had a large global empire, even intended to divide the world in half with Spain, but then you realise what could have been, realise that so many things went wrong, it makes you wonder. Maybe our history as a country reflects on our people, people that feel they could have been so much more but aren't, and eventually need to leave. Nothing creates anxiety as effectively as the feeling of being unable to do better.
Spaniard here, we only get taught our history from the point we started losing colonies. There is a level of self loathing embeded in our culture, i wonder if its the same for you guys
I love this episode, Mark, and as always, you impress me a lot. The topic in this video is so insightful for me; I've learned something about the anxious state of mind of the Portuguese, even if not a lot. Great video-very insightful and enjoyable. Looking forward to more!
I’m astonished with this reflection. I am a 22 y/o Brasilian, and watching this video made me realize things that never before, have I done. First of all, I loved the way you were not satisfied with the results, and actually went deeper than this economic and political excuses people normally correlates. But other than that:
• You brought to me a new perspective on “Saudade”, a word that we indeed are very proud of having. And that was a very interesting one, relating it to the explorations time and how the people dealed with their own relatives going without the confirmation they would come back.
• I think you could go on with this research and understand why does Brasil, the second on the list of most anxious, was curiously a colony and initially an extension of the portuguese culture.
I really think this work, if deepened can possibly discover further and more profound insights! Thanks for sharing this amazing piece of work.