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By Itunu Azeez Kareem
10 October 2023 |
8:20 am
While every October 10th is reserved for the celebration of the World Mental Health Day, Mental health is a universal human right’. World Mental Health Day is about raising awareness of mental health and driving positive change for everyone’s mental health. Importantly seeking professional assistance, globally it is a topic that is now taking the…
While every October 10th is reserved for the celebration of the World Mental Health Day, Mental health is a universal human right’.
World Mental Health Day is about raising awareness of mental health and driving positive change for everyone’s mental health. Importantly seeking professional assistance, globally it is a topic that is now taking the spread of many news outlets, as many people continue to fall victims to mind issues that could have been prevented.
It is an understatement to say Nigerians are stressed, Nigerians, hence the usual end product of this menace if not well taken care of, Suicide, Depression, Domestic violence and usually death.
Statistics by the World Health Organisation in 2022, have shown that over 20,000,000 Nigerians are currently suffering from various degrees of mental illness or disorder without psychiatric health care.
While the government is trying all it can to provide basic amenities to ease the pains and sufferings of Nigeria, organisations like, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiatives, (MANI), Mycarebuddy, Gede Foundation, Mental Health Foundation, She writes-Woman, Anti Suicide and Depression Squad (ASAD) and a host of others have continued to drag Nigerians out of the trouble we are currently in.
Speaking to the President Elect of the Mandella Washington Fellowship, Alumni Association Nigeria, (MWFAAN) Farida Yahya, she believes that, “The media has a huge role to play in battling mental health issues, this is by telling stories from a compassionate point of view, everybody is struggling with something, and we have created this stigma of shame around mental health issues”
She continued by saying, “A lot of people are struggling with depression, a few people are also dealing with Bipolar disorder, and in my own understanding of mental health which started three years ago, I know something called, adverse childhood experiences, a lot of us are carrying trauma from our childhood that we have not dealt with, and we carry it on to adulthood, and as an adult everyone expects you to have an answer, but I think the best way to solve this is, when someone tells you something important, please keep it don’t turn it into a gossip and if you must tell, make sure it’s an expert”
Another Nigerian who reacted, was the CEO, of the Mycarebuddy group, Kunle Pelemo, he told the Guardian that “The most challenging mental health issue in Nigeria has to be the world STRESS, everybody is passing through one stress or the other, it is chronic stress that really affect the health of people, and one of the thing we do as professionals is to create awareness and assist them to be better, so everyone who is out there won’t try to be free from stress, but a way to manage it so it won’t push them to anxiety, depression or suicide”
Mental health can best be watered down by some of the following steps listed out by the World Health Organisation, (WHO), which are, Talking to Someone, doing activities you enjoy, looking after your physical health, steer away from harmful substances, and importantly seeking for professional help.
