Mental health condition, public attitude and stigma

“I attended a course in psycho-trauma healing to learn to help people with mental health conditions; I didn’t know I needed healing myself.

“At the end of the course, I also got healed and it is now easy for me to counsel people going through mental health challenges.

“I realise that truly healed people heal people’’.

This is how Francis Keji captures his journey on recovering from mental illness through the psycho-trauma healing course he attended at the Pyscho-Spiritual Institute of the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation in Abuja.

Just like Francis, there are many more people in need of healing without realising it, says Fr. George Ehusani, the founder of the Psycho-Spiritual Institute.

According to Ehusani, trauma is a leading cause of mental health cases and it exists in the society in various forms, some more severe than others but traumatic, nonetheless.

“Our streets are filled with people who need help medical help and yet when we see these people behaving in some ways.

“A lot of people will just waive it away, saying it is just an anger problem even though we often see their moods swing like a pendulum within a twinkle of an eye,’’ observes.

Ehusani says in Nigeria, there is a lot of denial of the severe mental health challenge citizens are facing and decries the fact that the government does not take it seriously just as the citizens themselves trivialise it.

The cleric calls on government to pay attention to mental health by providing facilities to address mental health cases.

According to the cleric, people live in a country where mental health awareness, even among the educated segment of the population is very low.

“Generally, across the country, the Nigerian people and our governments have yet to gain sufficient awareness that mental health care needs to be provided for in the same way as we provide for physical healthcare.

“Thus, until a disturbed person degenerates into full-blown psychiatric case, requiring to be detained in a psychiatric hospital, we often do not recognise that there is a health challenge that needs urgent medical attention.

“Until people strip and parade the streets naked, we often do not give their mental issues any serious attention.

“We often tell ourselves that we do not have mental illness in our families, so even when we notice that a relation is disturbed, we blame it on demons and go from one man of God to the other, seeking deliverance of the sick family member,’’ he explains.

He said that in many of such cases, what the suffering person requires is psychological care and support such as trauma counseling, particularly for persons who have experienced or witnessed tragic events.

He decries a situation where thousands graduate with degrees in psychology but are not engaged in counseling just as the country lacks well trained and practising specialist trauma counselors.

He laments that the escalating violence across the country and an increase in substance abuse, especially among the youth including secondary and tertiary school students, is gradually but steadily causing the number of people in need of mental health care in the country to increase.

He said such occurrences among others such as family dysfunction, marital breakdown and divorce, are capable of causing deep emotional wounds that require psychological support.

Beyond that Mrs Dooshima Odoh, a certified trauma care provider, says mental health is one of the most underrated topics discussed in Nigeria and yet it is fast becoming a top silent killer.

According to her, it is as important as physical health but sadly, people suffering from it are not confident enough to speak about it because a lot of people are not willing to hear about it and society still considers it a stigma.

“People are hurting a lot from mental health issues caused by one traumatic experience or the other and because people can’t see this physically, they tend to down play it forgetting that not all wounds are visible.

“People need to understand that mental illness is not contagious, one cannot get infected by listening to someone who is experiencing it or by being kind’’, she notes.

Odoh says empathy is the best way to go about mental health issues because those affected need a lot of empathy.

“At Lux Terra, we have long seen the need for professionals and volunteers to be trained in trauma healing to enable them support affected persons better and to facilitate their healing,’’ she observes.

Mr Emmanuel Alhassan, the Head of Department of Psychology, Nasarawa State University, says it is imperative for government to scale up work on Psyco-trauma healing to produce more counselors to attend to the growing cases of mental breakdown on account of mental health challenges.

Mr Simon Ati, a mental health expert, says sometimes, creating things from our imaginations such as painting, drawing, taking a long walk or doing some exercise during those periods when your thoughts run wild and create anxious moments could be very calming and useful.

According to him, mental health is a big deal that should not be joked with and we must stop saying depression is not a Nigerian thing.

“Mental health fears no nationality, skin colour, gender, age group or educational background, it is a medical condition many people are battling with it, he warns.

While describing it as a fast growing silent killer, Ati maintains that mental health is an urgent medical emergency that must be addressed.

He notes that sometimes, issues such as lack of money to pay rent, school fees, medical bills, divorce and abusive marriage, among others, could lead people into depression that could be harmful.

He highlights some solutions to mental health issues to include not living in denial but accepting the problem and seeking help.

“Talk about your feelings because talking about your feelings can help you stay in good mental health and deal with times when you feel troubled, people must also be active, eat well, keep in touch with family and friends and ask for help,’’ he advises.

Participants in the course, therefore, stress the importance of the contents of the course, noting that the issues discussed therein will be useful in the observance of the coming Mental Health Awareness Week in October.

They observe that the first week in October is celebrated as Mental Health Awareness Week and for 2021; activities will begin on Oct. 3 and end on Oct. 9

The celebration intends to raise awareness of mental illness, fight discrimination and provide support for those suffering from mental health in any way.

The 2021 mental health awareness week is centred around new awareness campaign –“Together for Mental Health’’.