Nigerians are talking about mental health but are they saying the right things?
Nigerians have a lot to say about mental health. On Twitter. And only after the news of suicide has the most tweets. Off social media, there is a lot said about mental health issues on TV. My childhood is full of memories of the evil characters running around the streets with tattered clothes and disheveled hair after God visits evil back on them.
There are fewer stories of normal people struggling with these disorders. Stories like that of my aunty Grace. She baked me cakes and yet, mental hospitals and churches were graced with her presence while my mother prayed and cried for her. I do not remember her been an evil person and so it could not have been nemesis or karma that led to her condition.
We do need to have a conversation about mental health. But not the one that is currently going on. Too often, I have seen the topic derailed by people focusing on suicide and whether or not it is right. Like every other issue, we tend to miss the point.
Mental health issues go beyond depression and the ultimate act of taking one’s life. There is a horde of problems Nigerians have to deal with in silence without help. Basic necessities like water and electricity are still a long way from being provided in many parts of our country. Are we ready to deal with what is going on in the heads of our people?
I do think we are.
Even though, there is a lot of stigma and misunderstanding about these conditions, creating the right kind of conversations and telling the right types of stories can change the narrative.
A speaker mentioned in her TEDx talk that a lot of “criminals” in Nigerian prisons are really just people with mental health illnesses. They cannot be held responsible for their actions and care should be provided for them. This is a valid issue. But not one that many people are talking about. Her voice is lost in the shouts of many who are focusing on arguing about whether or not our brown skin makes us immune from mental health disorders.
To many Nigerians, this is a joke. Only white people have problems like this. This rhetoric needs to be corrected. It also has to be broadened to include things we were led to believe. Like only evil people run mad. Or that we should talk about mental health only when someone has jumped off the Third Mainland Bridge.
