Mental Health Disorders Should Not Be Treated Like an Underdog

“No visible symptoms, no runny nose, just a head full of darkness. No fever or rash, no fractures or sprains, just a longing for something unable to explain.” — Healthyplace.com

My mind recently took a long sail back to several years ago when my goals were essentially to graduate from medical school, grow long natural hair, and build a healthy relationship with God, myself, and others.

I remembered the challenges of being ‘omo ibo’ in a Yoruba land, the struggle to remain a good girl in a liberal university environment, and how challenging it was to make friends with certain people from different tribes and religions.

As I breezed through these experiences, my mind stuck on some individuals who were particularly difficult to relate with. Their ‘weird’ thought processes and actions intersected at points that sparked unnecessary conflicts. They wore complex behaviors and expressions in a way that was too comfortable for comfort. They had unpredictable moods, displayed unprovoked hostility, and sometimes talked irrationally.

To me, they were problematic and needed to be avoided.

Now, following years of clinical exposure, I’ve realized my judgment on them was harsh and insensitive. They needed urgent mental resuscitation but I didn’t recognize that because their symptoms weren’t like the cough and fever I was used to.

I couldn’t see through their behaviors to know they needed attention.

Unfortunately, some of them have deteriorated to the point of losing their jobs, roaming the streets, or committing suicide. Some others are wasting away in prayer houses where the ‘evil spirits’ claimed to be responsible for their behaviors are being tortured by flogging and battering.

I feel terrible for failing to be more understanding of their plight.

I wasn’t in a position to offer a lasting solution, but at least I would have been a lot kinder and more patient towards them.

It’s saddening how many people still erroneously prioritize physical ailments over mental illnesses. They believe mental health challenges are trivial, less debilitating, or spiritual, beyond medical remedy.

This mindset has been a bane to the management of mental health disorders.

It’s high time we realized that none of these illnesses is superior to the other.

Gordon Corsetti, the curator of the blog, ‘Mental Agility’ puts it perfectly:

Every internal and external injury involves the body breaking down or getting broken, and they are all terrible in their own way.

In other words, although there are no signs of inflammation as seen in physical injuries, a sick mind manifests itself in a range of equally debilitating symptoms that affect thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

To make matters worse, people who have some of these challenges also have to deal with being misunderstood, dismissed, or misjudged. They’re trapped in stereotypes and stigma that make it difficult to get help.

A study by Saloni Dattani et al revealed that over 1 in 10 people globally live with a mental health disorder yet, about 70–75% of these people receive no treatment at all according to Mental Health Statistics.

We can improve these statistics by changing the way we think about mental health disorders.

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

● Mental health challenges are more common than you think they are.

● Pay more attention to yourself and the people around you.

● Don’t be dismissive of unusual emotions, behaviors, and thoughts patterns.

● Seek medical help for mental illness with the same urgency with which you’d respond to symptoms of any other type of ill-health.

● Just like people with other forms of medical conditions, individuals who suffer from mental illnesses can live, work and partake peacefully in communal activities if treated appropriately.

● Resist the urge to stigmatize them.

Thanks for reading.

©Bic Wonder

Omo ibo- how those from the Igbo tribe of Nigeria are addressed by their Yoruba counterparts.

Shout out to Athena Milios for writing beautiful stories about Psychiatry and Mental Health.

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