55-year-old Demba is about to retire after 30 years of service at the city hall in his small town in Northern Senegal. That hot summer, as the 2-year anniversary of his wife’s passing approaches, he realizes he just can’t “shake it off.” As his mental health deteriorates, he discovers a new connection with his once estranged son. Grief and depression are so alike that for years, the American Psychiatric Association has urged doctors not to diagnose major depression in individuals who have recently lost a loved one. But what does that mean for a society that does not have a word for depression and where psychosocial disorders remain a taboo? Can Demba recover from his loss without losing himself?
