LET US TALK MENTAL HEALTH.

MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS ATTENTION MORE THAN EVER!

Sited in a taxi heading home, the taxi driver almost knocked a mentally ill looking middle aged man; ‘look at this hopeless drug abuser!’, the conductor asserted! Mental health being one’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being, one’s state of mental health is very imperative since it is the vital part of one’s life that affects one’s thoughts, behavior and emotions. On 10^th September, it was World suicide prevention day, and according to recent statistics, close to 20% (about 9 million) out of about 45 million people in Uganda have some degree of mental illness, ranging from anxiety, depression and severe madness. Unfortunately, discussion and talks on mental health remain a major taboo for most Ugandans.

Unfortunate to note, the society has worsened the situation by stigmatizing these victims of mental illness just like the conductor who instead of sympathizing with such a vulnerable person, he instead abused him the more! According to World Health Organization, close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds! This is very alarming! When we talk of mental health in relation to suicide, someone would think we are being ambiguous but actually, the earlier we accept that mental health needs more attention than we are giving it, the better.A survey conducted by British and Ugandan psychiatrists established that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in Northern Uganda is higher than that ever recorded anywhere in the world. It is the leading region with the highest mental illness cases, and blame it on the Lord Resistance Army insurgency. This implies that whenever there is any calamity or instability, peoples social, economic and psychological state changes and so there must be a system in place to address the effect of the ongoing challenges and the post effects.

The country is currently undergoing a calamitous period given an attack of the lethal covid-19 and it is very evident that it is still cutting deep in the already existing wounds of issues like unemployment, financial constraints and social distress. I must appreciate there have been visibly some opportunities like business related. The obvious one is the making of face masks and other protective gears from the pandemic. However, it has been notably more harmful than good. The government just announced the reopening of the schools. Much as its so far a good move and a ray of hope for the school going children, my thoughts are with a single mother somewhere who lost a job and yet supposed to part with very likely to be hiked fees. Perhaps the same person is already chocking on some loans and debts! Such a person is likely to think of suicide. And how about her child might even resume school immediately after a long miserable stay at home! The same child equally needs social psycho support.

 Mental health impacts one’s effectiveness, performance and productivity in activities like school performance, work, and caregiving, it goes further and plays a health of one’s relationships and one’s capability to adapting to changes and diversity. As a nation, we need to embrace this challenge by devising more means of addressing it. We need more social support systems such as offering free counseling and guidance services. These can be stationed in public work places for easy reach and be made free and affordable. Most people found relief from churches and now that they are closed, worse will be expected. The young people most especially need to be kept busy, could be through local organized sports activities, we need to care more for our family members, since when did you last check on your lost cousin or colleagues, that call could make a difference. We need start being more kind to people by not just judging them baselessly, the affected people need to also come out and seek help before the situation gets out of hand because much as drug abuse is commonly to be known as the leading cause of mental illness, there are other underlying causes that need to be looked into and be addressed.

CAROL NYANGOMA MUKISA

Social Analyst and

CEO Warm Hearts Foundation