20m affected, 50m at risk

By Gabriel Olawale

Experts worry over epidemic of mental illnesses among Nigerian youths

Joseph Chukwuemeka would have been among the batch of National Youth Service Corps members that passed out on the 18th of October, 2018, but not only did he lose the opportunity, he lost his life.

Brought up in a  devout Christian home in Port Harcourt, Joseph  who was once a chorister in the local church, allegedly got involved with drugs in the attempt to “boost” his confidence to face the congregation.

Before he knew it, he was mixing heroin with other substances whenever he was to lead praises and worship and soon became so hooked on drugs he couldn’t cope with his education and was rusticated in the second year.

His condition kept deteriorating and efforts to get him rehabilitated in Port Harcourt was a challenge.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) helped in his treatment and rehabilitation. He returned home one month later but two days afterwards, overdosed, and was found dead before he could be helped.

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The story of Kunle Ayobola, a 200 level medical student at a Federal University is similar. Kunle was falling behind in his academic work and was desperately seeking a solution. He approached one of his peers that usually topped the class, for the secret of his academic brilliance.

Before long, he learned that the trick was eating rice cooked with cannabis would activate his brain such that he would remember everything he had ever read.

Kunle wasn’t satisfied with results of the recommended dosage so he increased the quantity. Soon he began behaving strangely, seeing and hearing things and soon ended up in the hospital. He was soon withdrawn and taken to a religious house because his parents believed the condition was a spiritual attack.

Bola, a secondary school student in Ogun State was recently gang-raped by a group of boys in her class after they lured her to a fake birthday party. They made a video of the rape which they are now using to blackmail her.

Although she struggled to move on, the video was leaked.  Bola became the object of mockery in her class. When everybody was mocking, she started skipping classes, engaging in substance abuse just to make her forget.

These ordeals of Joseph, Babajide and Bola are commonplace. Drug abuse and substance abuse is assuming epidemic level in the country.  It now thrives across gender and contributes to mental illness.

According to the World Health Organization, WHO, worldwide, 10-20 per cent of children and adolescents experience a mental disorder. In Nigeria, statistics show that 12 per cent of adult Nigerians will experience a mental illness at some point in their lives.

The country is currently experiencing a surge in number of children and adolescents coming down with mental health disorders.

Reacting to the development, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist at the University of Ibadan, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik traced the first obstacle to be overcome in addressing drug menace as presumptive   judgment.

“If you look at some of the circumstances that led many young people to drug abuse was a motive for improvement. So we shouldn’t jump to conclusion when people have a problem with drug abuse.”

Abdulmalik lamented that Nigeria is currently faced with an epidemic of drug abuse for many reasons, blaming it on lack of the protective extended family system.

Abdulmalik who spoke at the first stakeholders’ roundtable discussion organised by Mindplus Practitioners to commemorate the 2018 World Mental Health Day in Lagos, said family dynamics have changed for the worse because the family closeness is no longer there.

“Many parents want their children to finish school at a certain age, forgetting that development is in stages which involves physical, physiological and emotional maturity that comes with age.

“The Nigerian population is about 200 million and WHO estimated that 1 in 4 will suffer mental illness at one point in their lifetime which means 25 per cent of the population is 50 million. That doesn’t mean that 50 million Nigerians are currently suffering mental illness.”

He further noted that 20 million Nigerians (10 percent) are at risk of some form of mental illness or the other. “For young people, 48 percent of our population is below the age of 15 years, so we are talking about 100 million, hence the prevalence of mental illness among children is 1 in 5.”

Corroborating his views, the Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Rivers State chapter, Pharm Wale Oladigbolu, stated: “The brain releases 10 feel-good chemicals naturally, but when they took codeine the brain releases 200 of those feel-good chemicals, and in return, they feel and that is why they keep repeating that experience to enjoy that high, and after a while, their bodies becomes used to it.”

For Principal Partner at Mindplus Practitioners and Forensic Medical Examiner United Kingdom, Dr Olusola Olowookere, “We have few psychiatrists and the only way out is prevention. Family and school have a big role to play. Parents need to be friends with their children and interact frequently.

He said the major problem Africa and Nigeria, in particular, currently facing with drug abuse was an issue of inability to draw the line between what is spiritual and what is medical.

Also speaking, a Consultant Psychiatrist, and Principal Partner at Mindplus Practitioners, Dr Oluseun Peter advised organisations to pay more attention to the health of their staff, noting that majority of the employees are struggling with mental problems.

“We run the Employee Assistance Programme. Some organisations are just paying salaries but the workers’ output is reduced. The organization is happy that they come to work but the output is not encouraging, but if  organisations can assist to address some of their emotional problems, the output level will increase dramatically. Then they will be able to say they are getting value for their money.”