(Local) Triggers to Mental Illness (and What Could Be Done about Them)

Mental illness is a universal ordeal that many societies have endured for many years. There are many manifestations of this disease/condition, and many of them are so commonplace we would gladly regard them as normal behaviour. OK. Lemme admit it, we've all had our moments of 'madness' when we had lost our mind, perhaps by flying off the handle. Hehe...that moment we almost would give it back to the bus conductor fire for fire if he refused to surrender our correct change.

That's not the mental illness that's worth a blog post except as a joke. What I'm talking about is serious societal malady, a problem that should have people worried as I am - adults naked in the streets because they have taken leave of their minds and entertain little children who just call them, 'onye ara.'

I don't know all the triggers of mental illness but let me share a few of them here. These are patients who should be in a psychiatric facility, hospital or clinic.

• Untreated (venereal) diseases: I have to fly through this even though it's good sense to dwell a little more here. Doctors and other medical personnel are in a good position to elucidate this point. STIs (sexually transmitted infections) are a few causes of mental illnesses and they are allowed to destroy the brain cells of human beings. Syphilis is number one on this list and should be treated quickly and accurately or there would be dire consequences. Cerebral malaria is also a known cause of madness if untreated. This is where I'd like to learn more of the diseases that can send people off to a psychiatric hospital when they are careless. HIV/AIDS, anybody? AD has no known cure yet and particularly affects the aged.

• Stress: Yes! Perhaps the number one cause of depression and other cases of mental illnesses. Work related stress, school stress, family stress, all kinds of stress that triggers psychosis, or even mania. Unemployment and its attendant helplessness have many stressed about their inability to provide a living for themselves and their families.

• Hard/Illegal drugs: Everybody at Aba thinks that every mad man/woman in the street used hard drug - crack, cocaine, LSD, or whatever else out there. However, NDLEA knows it has a job of rounding up users and sellers of these substances; we are lucky to have them do a good job of minimising drug trafficking in Nigeria. Hence, drug abuse is a trigger of mental illness. 

• Conflict/War: This is a multi-generational trigger of mental illness. Wars do no good, they reflect a breakdown of civility and a civil society. When parties go to war, they have refused to hold talks and entertain diplomacy. The consequences of war are dire. People lose employments, loved ones, money, property - why shouldn't they run mad if they can't hold it together any more? Even when a people have agreed to go to war it still doesn't ameliorate the consequences for the nation and her peoples. What is lost is gone. No reparation can replace the original, the true copy of what used to be. So, countries that have experienced civil war should include psychiatric rehabilitation for everybody even if they didn't lose a kobo (money), if that's remotely possible.

• Sexual abuse: Women and girls are always considered the victims of sexual abuse. The world watches as many boys and men are abused at home, work, in the street and even in religious establishments. Rape and incest are the worst of these manifestations of sexual abuse, which can trigger mental illness. Sexual harassment at work has everybody talking. But it's not the only way sexual abuse triggers madness or other mental illnesses. Let's look inwards. The wider society is complicit and conspiratorial. There is a conspiracy of silence as many evil people have got away with this as discipline. Banza. That's why evil will never go away from the society and it should. Again, many supposed victims of sexual abuse would hardly complain until it's too late because they are dependent on the relationship, children, spouses, subordinates being such victims.

• Malnutrition: Don't get me talking on what people eat here (Aba/Nigeria) for food. Most people eat what's in the news, not what they should. If sharwama is the food in vogue, everybody goes for it. If it's chicken and chips, then people camp by the Mallam's stall waiting for their order to grill. Hmm...and there's this thing/plant called turmeric: everybody and her neighbour is planting it. It is well. Hallellujah! Many Nigerians can't afford three square meals, I can't afford it, that's a square meal. In fact, I'm a poacher in my mother's kitchen, eating what's available. She's a rote cook. We've had the same eating pattern for over two decades. Even while I was away from home (UI) and lived abroad (USA), I could tell what the meal for Thursday would be. Talk about people being set in their ways. Change things up in the kitchen. But if change would start a Third World War as it could in mine, cook your own food! If the brain doesn't get the right kind and quantity of nutrition, something is going to malfunction, and that's our mental health. I visit a few Nigerian food blogs - allnigerianrecipes, dooney's kitchen, nigerianfoodtv, 9jafoodie, etc - to cure me of food and stuff boredom. Most women my age are in their own kitchens working their own magic and creating their own rote menus, lol. I'll get there someday. To help me now, I planted a few spinach stalks out of my window (some six months ago) and have this masquerade to show for my effort. Ugu (fluted pumpkin), the queen of Igbo vegetables, had better watch it. This is serious business:

Could you think of more triggers of a mental illness such as poverty/austerity, stigma, terrorism (many people live in fear), childbirth, loss, pain, ageing? Some say madness is hereditary (I wouldn't know). Like pride and other character defects, it's easy to see mental illness in others than in oneself. Are you bothered by any of these triggers, then it might be worth a visit to a psychiatric facility. Don't suffer alone. Medication and psychotherapy are only a few ways to receive help.

Finally, some known mental illnesses include depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia (wrongly called ogbanje), psychosis, mania etc. There are over a hundred (100) mental illnesses known to psychiatry, I believe. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) should know better and definitely has a comprehensive list. Psychiatric wards of hospitals/teaching hospitals are the first point of call for a comprehensive evaluation of the concerned patient. But I advocate for a specialist psychiatric hospital in Abia state, if not all of Nigeria. Maybe a regional specialist facility in all the six geopolitical zones could save the day. If you think that I can't find pictures of naked mad people to support this post think again, please. I voted to uphold public decency. We are as mad as that mad fellow walking by our home. Seek help, give help for mental illness. Don't just stigmatize mentally ill persons for mere entertainment.