Acar Baltaş was this week's guest on 12'de Sağlık: 'Does one go to make peace with a weapon?'

Prof. Dr. Acar Baltaş was the guest this week on 12'de Sağlık, which airs on 12punto. Baltaş discussed the books "Life Breaks the Good Most" and "Ways to Strengthen from Where We Are Broken," which he co-authored with journalist Mert İnan.

'WE HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF THAT LIFE OWES US GOOD THINGS'

Stating that a life without disappointment, failure, or sadness is impossible, Baltaş said, "If we start from an individual perspective, it is impossible not to be broken, not to be disappointed, not to fail, and not to be sad; there is no such life. But for some reason, we have a fundamental belief that life owes us good things, and in fact, that it always owes us good things. A person can blame themselves, blame the other party, or blame the circumstances, and as long as they continue to invest their energy into this, they become a victim of what breaks them and thicken their cocoon. This cycle causes the cocoon to thicken, whereas life is outside the cocoon. It is just like getting on a plane in cloudy weather, but 3 minutes later you encounter brilliant sunshine; therefore, wherever we place our energy, life develops there."

'FOR FAMILIES FACING UNEXPECTEDLY RISING RENTS, RESPONSIBILITIES TOWARD THEIR CHILDREN ARE VERY IMPORTANT'

Baltaş said, "For well-being, the city we live in is important because for people who have to go home in the morning or evening during their daily lives, this is a very important source of stress. In the face of unexpectedly rising incomes or rents, finding a place to live and being able to maintain a standard is important for a family in terms of their responsibilities toward their children. This is a group, and of course, this also affects people's moods and, in a way, their life expectancy. But on the other hand, there are people who do not have any of these; there are people who would die to have the problems of the people we are talking about in this group. When I mention these different groups, my suggestions carry no meaning for those people."

'PEOPLE SAY THE WORLD IS GETTING WORSE, BUT THE NUMBERS DO NOT SAY THAT'

Baltaş also stated, "Contrary to what is believed, the world is not getting worse, but people believe it is. Yes, this is a very common opinion, and in research conducted on this subject globally, when asked whether the world is getting better or worse, the Japanese are at the bottom of the list, for example, with 55% saying it is getting worse. But guess which country is at the top of the list of those who say the world is getting worse? Turkey. Turkey is at 88%. So, we generally believe the world is getting worse, but the numbers do not say that. Of course, there is a huge package of risks, such as chain problems like the climate crisis, which cause forest fires, natural disasters, famine, migration, and ethnic conflicts caused by migration."

'DOES ONE GO TO MAKE PEACE WITH A WEAPON?'

Baltaş remarked, "If we come to the social causes, the society is truly very tense; we see how tense it is in the conflicts that arise from very minor incidents. But the incident itself is like black comedy: two families go to make peace, to reconcile, and there are two dead and five injured. They go with weapons. I mean, does one go to make peace with a weapon?"

'FOR THE FIRST TIME, A GENERATION WILL NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITIES THEIR PARENTS HAD'

Discussing the recent increase in antidepressant use, Baltaş said, "When we look at it from the perspective of young people, there is a situation like this: for the first time in history, this generation will earn less money than their parents and their standard of living will be lower than their parents'. That is why they feel this too, because when their parents followed the path shown to them, they had a livable life; they had a modest home, maybe a car, maybe a small summer house, and they went on vacation with their family using their own means. But for the first time, this generation knows that they will not be able to have these opportunities."