Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greets his supporters upon his arrival to a meeting with national athletes at Teresa Careno theater in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
In Idled Venezuela, Psychiatrists Work Overtime***The symptoms of the ailing are myriad: panic attacks are up, while sexual encounters are way down, psychiatrists say. Health problems seem to be on the rise, said some doctors, with an increase in hospital visits for everything from heart attacks to unexplained rashes. In serious cases, Venezuelans suffer all manner of phobias, often of public places where violence can erupt.
"There is an attitude of paranoia I have noticed, where people think they are being chased," Dr. Álvaro Requena said. "They feel that waves and waves of people are going to come rob them."
Dr. Requena said that the constant street protests and the growing participation of Venezuelans in politics had helped relieve stress for many people. Yet he and other psychiatrists said even those who suffered nothing serious were still affected.
María Cabrera, a physician, said she noticed that she had trouble concentrating. "If I am at home and doing three or four things, I cannot do something that requires concentration," she said.
Milagros Torres, a lawyer who makes it a point to talk with her sister, a psychologist, to relieve stress, said, "I never took a pill in my life, a tranquilizer, but now I am taking them." ***