As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate 2022 Mental Health Day, experts in mental health care want Nigerians to desist from stigmatizing mental patients.
The experts stated this while speaking with Radio Nigeria on increasing cases of mental health challenges among Nigerian youths.
Speaking on the day, two clinical psychologists at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Dr Aina Oyekanmi and Dr Olanrewaju Shodehinde said mental health was an integral part of human health, noting that mental health crises could occur in humans at any stage of life.
While highlighting some of the causes of mental health challenges, the psychiatrists said poverty, extreme stress, drug abuse, historical background, denial and ignorance were some of the predisposing factors that could influence mental illness in people.
Dr Oyekanmi and Dr Shodehinde who emphasized the need for government to adequately fund mental health institutions and improve the economy also advocated constant awareness of the dangers associated with substance abuse.
Speaking on the significance of the day, a Psychiatrist at the University College Hospital UCH, Ibadan, Dr Esan Oluyomi advised Nigerians who were mentally balanced to eschew activities that could trigger mental crises including substance abuse.
Dr Oluyomi urged people with mental disorders to seek medical intervention to restore their mental health.
The United Nations states that nearly one billion people globally have some form of mental disorder.
The theme for 2022 World Mental Health Day is “make mental health for all a global priority”
Rotimi Famakin
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