Experts link marital crises, economic hardship, stress to rising mental health disorders in Nigeria
Breakdown in the ability to deal with relationship break-ups, higher rates of marital discord, separation and divorce, stress and economic hardship, are among the factors leading to higher rates mental cases in Nigerians, experts say.
Several studies have also shown that marital stress is associated with a range of psychiatric diagnoses.
Marriage is a social process demanding certain social abilities for it to be successful. Schizophrenia, which can lead to a reduction of such abilities, has been associated with lower marital rates and increased chances of adverse marital outcome.
Folashade Leke (not real name) a 44 years old civil servant who works in one of the ministries in the state, shared her ill luck experience as she under goes psychological therapy.
According to Folashade, “I have been married for the past 15 years with three beautiful children, one in senior secondary school, and another in junior secondary school, the last still in the primary school.
“I was married to Shina Leke my husband, with the mind-set that we both love each other. He works as an entrepreneur while, I am a civil servant in the ministry.
“I finance most of the needs in the family because I earn more income than he does. Shina came up with these odd attitudes when we had our last child because my three children are all girls.
“It became so though that in the evening as the close of work comes I become scared of going home. This has not only affected me psychologically I see it confront my daily activities on my desk at work, I lost concentration, thinking of what I could have done that made my husband hate me such”.
“I have this fear whenever, I remember how he shouts at me and threatens to leave me and the girls, these life tortures have face off my real being of beauty,” she recounts.
Just like Folashade, more events keep unveiling in the society we are due to stress, depression and is leading to a surge in psychiatric cases due to broken marriages.
Health experts say that until Nigeria is able to enact the mental health bill, the country might not be able to properly tackle the depression scourge which is one of the reasons for suicide.
There is considerable neglect of mental health issues in the country. The existing Mental Health Policy document in Nigeria was formulated in 1991. It is the first policy addressing mental health issues and its components include advocacy, promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
Since its formulation, no revision has taken place and no formal assessment of how much it has been implemented has been conducted.
In general terms, several countries in Africa are better resourced in regard to mental health personnel. Countries such as South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya have more psychiatrists per 100,000 persons and also higher proportions of psychiatric beds.
Richard Adebayo, a consultant psychologist and clinical psychologist at Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Lagos, said marriage may be stressful for vulnerable people, which may lead to development of mental-health problems.
“Major mental-health disorders may be the cause or effect of marital discord and can also be traced to financial issues, stress and separation, which affects both men and women,” Adebayo said.
According to Adebayo, in case of women, after marriage, an early relapse causes uncertainty and doubt in the family of the partner, which in turn, threatens the success of the marriage and the outcome of the illness.
“Marriage is an important institution in our culture, it is almost compulsory for every individual to marry and “settle down.” Not being married is considered a stigma, particularly in case of women whereas being married converts into elevation in social status,”
“There are bounds to be disappointments, but don’t be down or out your life at a point of no return. No matter what happens, it is a bitter truth, you must learn to move with the challenges of life,”
“For men, financial issues, jobless could be traced to the genesis of their problem and higher rate of divorce is seen in heavy drinkers which can result to family problem such as violence, marital conflict, economic insecurity and divorce,”
“Broken relationship or marriage is not the end of life, instead of adding to the number of people who are mentally ill,” Adebayo advised.
Depression is often linked with feelings of ending one’s life. While depression is more common in women, men are more likely to attempt suicide.
Similarly, an industry watcher says in Nigeria, suicide is more of a social and public health objective than a traditional exercise in the mental health sector.
“Mental health professionals, doctors and counsellors can be reached out to manage suicidal tendencies. The proactive steps taken by several such professionals in the capacity of leaders has helped and has the potential to help save thousands of lives.”
“Occurrence of suicide tends to be under-reported and misclassified due to both traditional and social pressures, and possibly completely unreported in some areas,” says an expert.
Experts say psychosis means a loss of contact with reality; it is a symptom of a number of mental illnesses rather than a medical condition in its own right.
Some estimates suggest that 14.7 to 18.5 per cent of people with major depression may experience psychotic features and that the prevalence rates may rise with age.
This form of depression is an underdiagnosed and undertreated condition.
People must remember that psychosis is a symptom of particular mental health conditions, not a disorder in itself.
Experiencing psychosis can be frightening and confusing, and psychosis can present in a variety of ways.
Symptoms of psychosis include delusions, also known as false beliefs or false perceptions, hallucinations, or seeing or hearing things that are not present paranoia.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH