HEALTH TALK: Mental Health Awareness in Nigeria: Challenges and perspective (Part 2)

 

By Suleiman Tajudeen 

 

Continued from last week 

Signs and symptoms of mental illness 

1. Feeling sad or down

2. Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate

3. Excessive fears or worries or extreme feelings of guilt

4. Extreme mood changes of high and low

5. Withdrawal from friends and activities

6. Significant tiredness, low energy or problem sleeping

7. Detachment from reality (delusion), paranoia or hallucination

8. Inability to cope with daily problems or stress

9. Trouble understanding and relating to situations and to people

10. Problem with alcohol or drug use

11. Major changes in eating habits

12. Sex drive changes

13. Excessive anger, hostility,violence

14. Suicide thinking

Cause of mental illness

1. Inherited traits

2. Drug abuse or alcohol misuse

3. Environmental exposures by or after birth (i.e drug or alcohol use while the baby was in the mother womb).

4. Childhood abuse, trauma or neglect

5. Experience discrimination and stigma

6. Social disadvantage, poverty or debt

7. Bereavement (i.e loss of close one)

8. Having a long term physical health

9. Severe or long term stress

10. Unemployment or losing ones job/academic failure

11. Lack of sleep for a period of time

12. Mental illness can also be due to chemical imbalance in our brain

13. Homeless or poor housing

How to prevent mental illness

• Talk out your feelings or worries

• Get good night’s sleep

• Eat well

• Stay active

• Learn to take things easy

• Learn to control your emotions

• Be positive about your thinking

• Be in touch with people that can support you

• Work on your good relationship with family members and society at large

• Avoid the use of alcohol and other drugs

• Feel happy, be positive about yourself and others

• Bounce back from upsets and disappointments in life

Management of mental illness

• Medication for severe mental illness

• Psychotherapy (i.e taking cure or counselling)

• Hospitalization (i.e patient can be hospitalized)

• Seek support when necessary

• Self help plan

• Electroconvulsive Therapy

• Breathing exercise

• Mental reframing of negative thought.

• Emotional awareness

• Seek support from people that can be of help

• Rehabilitation plan for drug abusers and old age psychiatric problems.

• Brain stimulation therapies (i.e repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, may be beneficial for patient that did not respond to drug and psychotherapy).

REFERENCES

1. World Health Organization, mental disorders affect one in four people. Geneva, Switzerland WHO, 2019.http://www.who. /int/whr/2001/media centre/press release/en/ (Goole scholar) Retrieved 20th Oct 2024.

2. Onyemelukwu C. (2016) stigma and mental health in Nigeria. Some suggestions for law reforms. Journal law policy G16,55:63-68

3. Suleiman DE, (2017) mental health disorders in Nigeria: A highly neglected disease. Annual Nigerian medical Journal 10:47-48

4. Akinkuotu, E (2018) 30% of Nigerians suffer from mental illness – FG 2018, https://www.punching.com.cdn.amproject org/v/s/punching.com Retrieved 25 Oct 2024.

5. Joshua AE, Paul B, Gregory HE, Omanwai IB (2023) Journal of public health Africa (2023) 14(11):1527.

 

Dr Sulaiman Tajudeen is Head, Clinical Psychology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos State.