A Consultant Neuro-psychiatrist, Dr Veronica Nyamali, has called for massive public awareness campaigns on mental health illness to correct the perceptions people have against psychiatric patients in the country.
Nyamali, also the Vice-president Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria (APN), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
She told NAN that a good number of psychiatric patients suffered unspeakable degrees of inhuman treatment and human rights abuses.
According to her, some of them are termed “mad’’, while some are tied down in religious homes and traditional healers’ shrine and other places where they experience cruel treatment.
She attributed the wrong perceptions and different degrees of inhuman treatments on psychiatric patients to lack of education/awareness, adding that stigma, cultural belief, myths and misconceptions were other challenges facing mental health management in Nigeria.
She explained that mental health illness, like every other sickness, was diagnosable and treatable given the right medications.
“Over 70 per cent of patients with mental health problems/disorders seek unorthodox interventions before orthodox care.
“It is usually late before they seek the orthodox care; to get good result in every treatment, early intervention is key,’’ Nyamali said.
According to her, there are different approaches to addressing perceptions of mental health in our communities and these will help in educating both children and adults.
Nyamali said that mental health awareness should be strengthened among the populace by continuously educating and re-educating people through available media, conventional or social, via cultural and religious bodies.
“It is, therefore, important to raise massive public awareness about mental health to break down the taboos, myths and misconceptions associated with it in order to make progress in correcting people’s perceptions to it.
“If these are done, more people will be better informed about appropriate mental health information, means of approach and channels of seeking information and help.
“It will help to reduce stigmatisation and make those with mental health conditions feel more comfortable discussing their mental health challenges and ultimately improve mental health delivery in the country,’’ she said.
Nyamali, however, decried the increasing incidence of mental health cases, attributing the development to COVID-19 and its attendant economic hardship.
She said that the devastating effects of COVID-19, among other challenges, had affected many people’s mental health and left several people in need of psychiatric evaluation. (NAN)
