By Denrele Animasaun

“Unexpressed emotions will never die, they are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways”-Sigmund Freud

Mission Impossible- Doctors are M.I.A

Nubi Peter, a psychiatrist admitted that the country’s mental health system is heavily reliant on the whims of the politicians:”take for an example in Nigeria, we as Psychiatrists have been clamouring for a National suicide prevention policy… We submitted letters and had series of meetings with the government.  Nothing”

What is clear is that mental health services has always been ignored for so long and is not well with resources as general hospital. Psychiatry has always being the Cinderella services to general medicine. It simply does not make sense, because there is no physical health, without mental health.

And to make matters worse,psychiatric treatments and facilities are so expensive, scarce and inaccessible to almost all who need it.  There is a need to urgently overhaul the mental health system in Nigeria.  Nigeria is at a crossroads of a suicide epidemic and definitely, more needs to be done to prevent further loss of promising young lives.

It is a scandal that in 2017, in Nigeria, there is a paltry one Psychiatrist to 740,000 Nigerians! Let that sink in. In the whole of Nigeria, there is less than 250 active psychiatrists in the country and some thirty of them are unemployed and unable to get suitable postings after spending almost a decade of training and specialisation.

So no wonder those that can, have left Nigeria to pasture new and on quest for a better paid job, a promising future and a better chance of becoming a specialist in the chosen field and sadly, it does not seem that the government is doing anything to prevent their departure nor offer them incentives: by improving working conditions, better paid, given opportunity to update skills, research and knowledge, a determined drive to recruit and retain the scarce and precious commodity-doctors.

So far, a number of young people are committing suicide and this trend was unheard of until recently in Nigeria. This is a sad sign of the times. A young family man hung himself after a year of non-payment of salary, a banker attempted to take his life, a university student committed suicide and now a medical doctor committed suicide, and many more that we are unaware of.

By now many are adjusting to the news of the young doctor that jumped into the river in Lagos. Of course, it was covered in real time, people had their mobile phones and they uploaded pictures online.

As the stories unfolded, we learnt more people were speculating as why he would have taken his life. Some passed judgements and aired their derision that the young doctor was not religious enough or content enough.

We later learnt that the young man had been depressed for some time and he had previously attempted suicide.  Of course, many felt if he had a nice driver and a nice car, then how could he have been suicidal?

Material things and wealth had nothing to do with the way he felt but that was lost on many. Mental illness is an equal opportunity affliction and it does not discriminate; anyone can experience mental ill health. This conversation is long overdue and with what has been going on in Nigeria; high youth unemployment, poor and inadequate health services, unpaid and exploited workers, grinding poverty, domestic violence, lack of security at home and generally.

Multiple bereavement, illnesses, political unrest, traffic congestion, strikes, violence and aggression and uncertainty with no respite in sight. So little wonder people are overwhelmed and it makes people susceptible to mental illness. One or more of the above factors play significant part in the deterioration of one’s mental health.

The drip, drip effect may not be felt immediately but if it continues, it will eventually affect people. The way people deal with events in their lives is dependent on resilience, adaptive coping mechanisms and the level support network.

Of course, it helps if we have an understanding of what we should look for and most importantly, how we as a nation develop a more tolerant and supportive environment that makes it easy for people experiencing emotional difficulties to get help and not feel isolated.

One of the most startling developments is that many more Nigerians are having a conversation about mental illness and this is a big and positive shift in the right direction. So it is about time we talk about mental health and mental health disorders. What can we do to help anyone who may be experiencing mental health conditions?

We, as Nigerians always explain away what we do not understand as witchcraft. The fact is, mental illness affects one in four people anywhere in the world at any given time. Mental ill health has a long spectrum of disorders from anxiety to schizophrenia.

So it can be a reaction to a traumatic life event; death of a loved one or losing one’s job. These situations are reactive and it is perfectly normal to feel sad and tearful, it becomes a problem when it affects day to day life and the person cannot see a way out that they feel very sad for a long period of time. No matter what, the person cannot feel happy and they begin to isolate themselves from their friends and family. People do get better if they get help earlier rather than later.

Mental health is different from mental illness and yet, the fear of hearing “mental “ stops people from getting help in case they are shunned by friends and family. The fact is, mental illness is common and yet, the stigma and the taboo of mental illness is worse than the illness itself.

Mental illness is not contagious; you cannot catch it from talking or caring for people who are unwell. We have to break down the taboo by talking openly about mental illness and mental health. Let us normalise it so that we are no longer afraid of mental illness just like we talk about physical illness.

Yes, people often say “not my portion or God forbid”.

We pride ourselves as being religious but we are hypocrites when it comes to helping friends and relatives experiencing or living with mental illness.  One of the best antidote to mental illness is having someone to talk to, physical activities, listening to music, employment and a supportive network.

Also, it helps to confide in people who will not be judgemental.  The biggest step is recognising when it is time to ask for help.