- Hardship, drug abuse contributing to rise in mental illness – Experts
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
There is a surge in psychiatric disorders and mental health problems in Nigeria, while victims lack necessary medical and social care, which they are supposed to get from family members and governments, findings by The Point have revealed.
Last year, the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria revealed that no fewer than 60 million Nigerians were suffering from mental illnesses. The APN had said there was a possiblity of the statistics increasing in coming months and years if there was no commensurate efforts by Nigerians and their government to improve their mental health.
APN submitted that Nigeria had fewer than 300 psychiatrists for its over 200 million population, making it more challenging for those suffering lunacy to get medical attention from experts.
Already, the World Health Organisation’s findings in 2020 indicated that about 30 per cent of Nigerians hadone form of mental illness or the other and that the most prevalent mental illnesses include depression and anxiety disorders. The organisation revealed that one out of four Nigerians suffered one form of mental ailment or the other.
In most states of Nigeria, mentally-ill people roam the streets without shelter. Once they wander out of the reach of their family members, they become abandoned and forgotten. Many of them have turned bus stops and other public places to their abode.
The Point gathered that efforts to rehabilitate them were weak as most state governments have failed to maintain rehabilitation homes for mentally deranged citizens.
As they move and roam about, these mentally-ill Nigerians, mostly in their young ages, often beg for alms to eat while others resort to eating waste foods on refuse dumps. In a bid to create shelter for themselves, some of them are defacing public infrastructure with dirt and rags which they assemble around them in the spots they take possession of.
While some of them are harmless, others become violent to people around them.
For example, there is aparticular one in the Old Garage area of Osogbo, capital of Osun State. No one knows her name, but she has possessed a central part of the roundabout, where she cooks in some containers and jealously guides her ‘properties’ against theft.
With tattered shoes and unkempt hair, all of which give him a riotous mien, another middle-aged mentally-ill person at Igbona area of the state capital engages in a strange soliloquy as passersby watch him with pity.
However, sometimes, some of the mentally-ill people get so violent that they cause the death of unsuspecting Nigerians who mix with them on a daily basis. In reality, there is a thin line between destitution and mental illness in many traditional societies. Those in both categories are often lumped together and tagged as “mad people.”
Ironically, the society itself treats the destitute and mentally-ill in different ways. In both rural and urban centres, children often make victims of both conditions objects of fun and entertainment by giving them different nicknames and composing songs to taunt them.
However, some societies are either more tolerant or simply indifferent to the destitute or mentally-ill such that they allow them to have close contacts. But, many dread some insane people who go about naked.
Interestingly, even in some urban centres, the destitute and mentally-ill often take on some ‘social responsibilities’ such as traffic control. Curiously they are often obeyed by motorists as long as their directives seem logical.
However, there is an oddity in people’s perception of the mentally-ill. There are people who believe that they have contact with the invisible world. Many people who are into betting believe they could provide them with winning numbers.
Some betting enthusiasts told The Point that most of the mad men had been rendering help in making them win. One of them, who identified himself as Jare, said, “They even made sane people rich by providing them with numbers when they play lotteries. When they win, beneficiaries often buy them food or give them money. Many people believe that they have spirits that can supernaturally give winning numbers.”
For some traders, selling things to a mentally deranged person first before other customers would fetch them better sales while others believe that offering them assistance would bring them goodluck.
Sadly, observant Nigerians are wondering how female mentally deranged persons get pregnant during the period of their illness and give birth without having known husbands.
They claimed that some unscrupulous men secretly had sexual intercourse with female mentally challenged persons. While this barbaric act was linked to mere satisfaction of sexual urge, some attributed it to fetish activities by those seeking ritual money.
Meanwhile, checks by The Point showed that governments at all levels had not been doing much in rehabilitating these ailing individuals even as their family members give up on them.
Mental health experts expressed worry that despite the signing into law of the Mental Health Bill 2021 in January, this year, no effort had been put in place by governments and other stakeholders to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of the populace as many Nigerians suffer depression and anxiety disorders.
The regulation assented to on January 5 by former President Muhammadu Buhari establishes human rights protection for those with mental health conditions, such as banning discrimination in housing, employment, medical, and other social services.
The law also guarantees that those receiving treatments have the right to participate in formulating their medical plans and cannot have forced treatment, seclusion, or other methods of restraint – common practices in mental health facilities – without appropriate safeguards.
Other provisions of the law include establishing a new Mental Health Fund, a Mental Health Department in the Federal Ministry of Health, and a Mental Health Assessment Committee to protect stakeholders.
A mental health expert, Sunny Irakpo, said as long as many Nigerians continued to go through tough financial challenges and socio-economic hardship, mental illnesses would increase. According to him, rampant lunacy cases could also be attributed to increasing rates of drug abuse among youths.
He called on government to prioritise the mental health of Nigerians by rehabilitating mentally challenged persons on the streets and also engaging in policies and programmes that would reduce the depression and anxiety many citizens go through due to economy-induced frustration and trauma.
