The Ignorance Of Africans On Mental Health.

After decades of being a civilized country & continent, mental healthiness still hasn’t found its way into most Nigerian & African homes.

When you say you are mentally unhealthy or ill, what Nigerians or Africans hear would be “I am a mad man or woman & I need to be tied down”. It sounds funny, but it’s the bitter truth. A lot of us got to know about mental health through the internet & social media, I would always appreciate the creators of the internet & all social media platforms.

Nigeria is supposed to be civilized decades ago, but to me, it feels like civilization just arrived. Africans & Nigerians are ignorant in a lot of things, mental health being one of them, no offense. Well, it sure isn’t a surprise with the saying that goes thus; “If you want to hide something from an African, keep it in a book”. This saying though was effective in older years when Africans didn’t seek knowledge, everything is different now.

So what is Mental Health?

Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood, Mental health.gov.

Mental health problems are caused by trauma or abuse while growing up, family background of mental health issues, biological factors, etc. Having low or no energy, fighting with one’s family & friends constantly, pulling away from people, feeling unusually confused, upset, angry or scared, thought of harming oneself & others are few early signs of a person with Mental Health problems.

Contrary to popular belief in Africa & Nigeria, having mental health issues doesn’t automatically mean one is mad or insane. I don’t think there’s a body or bodies set up to help people with mental problems in Nigeria. The moment you say you have mental issues, they just throw you into one local psychiatrist hospital.

A school is a place to learn, write and, to be helped. A school should be a place where students get most of their problems solved, not in my country. I have never seen or heard of a Nigerian secondary school with a guidance counselor, I’m not even exaggerating here if you’ve heard of one please kindly share in the comment section.

This is a very heartbreaking thing to, be honest, the so-called giant of Africa. Private secondary schools in Nigeria are even making efforts, at least there are some teachers you can talk to, but this is nothing compared to having a guidance counselor. I made a lot of bad decisions in secondary school, if only I had someone to talk to, it would have been better.

Government-owned secondary school? Lol, I don’t see these craps as school, I see them as a place where kids go to waste 7-8 hours of their daily 24 hours. How do you expect a school that doesn’t have proper teachers to have a guidance counselor? Nigerian governments have a bigger role to play in this, there are a lot of kids with mental problems but no one to help them. I wasn’t mentally stable in school, but the only person I could talk to was me.

If we decide to trace the background of people who have mental problems in Nigeria today, about 90% were affected by their various households. My problem started from my home, parents got separated, Dad brought in a new wife, and like what we see in movies, stepmothers issues are true.

A lot of African parents, mothers to be precise, do & say things that can make a child go into full depression. I still don’t get the logic behind insulting & laying curses on a child that came to the world through you. If you stay in the “tush” part of Nigeria, you might not be able to relate, but we staying in the rural areas can relate.

Research has it that, people from broken homes are 3x likely to be mentally unhealthy. There are a lot of us out there, but not everyone can come out like me. Marriage has it advantages, but don’t force it or rush it no matter what. Don’t make a quick decision that would affect your kids in the future.

I don’t want to keep on going on how African parents make their children mentally unhealthy, it would make me look ungrateful. Bottom line is, African parents can do better than this, I hope this new generation would do better & pay attention to their kid’s mental health.

Then there are friends, we don’t have any choice in picking the family we belong to, but we have over 80 million people in Nigeria to pick as a friend or as friends. For what it’s worth, friends play a big role in one’s mental health. Just tell your friends that you are mentally unhealthy and see the way their perspective about you will change. They might try and cheer you up and all, but they’d see you differently. In an effort to try and help you, they would be making it worse.

The biggest problem with being mentally unhealthy is that people want you to act like you’re not, in my country you belong to the psychiatric hospital. A Psychiatric hospital for a mentally unhealthy person is like pouring fuel in a burning fire. You are confining the person in a restricted area, having restricted movements, how do you want them to get better?

A Therapist is a person that should be helping a mentally unhealthy, I’ve never seen or heard of one in Nigeria. This is very sad, a mentally unhealthy person in Nigeria doesn’t have anyone to help him or her, all they have or rather all we have is ourselves.

Family, friends, learning institutions & governments should help mentally unhealthy people. The numbers of mentally are way more than the mentally healthy ones. Like, physical health, mental health is also important. If you ever feel like life has nothing to offer you again, you can read my article on 5 ways to overcome depression.

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