Mental Health Treatment Should be Integrated into Primary Healthcare – Psychiatrist
A professor of Psychiatry, Taiwo Obindo has revealed that six out of 10 Nigerians will suffer one form of mental illness in their lifetime.
Obindo, who is also the president of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria, that anyone with a functional brain is at risk of developing mental illness.
He said this on Monday during a Mental Health Reporting Workshop organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation & Development in partnership with Mental Health KAFE, and the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria.
According to the psychiatrist, those who have someone with mental illness are at higher risk of developing the condition later in life.
He explained that the brain of every human reacts to pressure which may trigger mental disorders.
According to him, when the brain is still functioning at a particular level – primary school level, the challenges are minimal and therefore, may not manifest.
He, however, noted that the more the challenges, the more the pressure increases and may increase the risk of mental illness.
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Obindo said, “We must have that at the back of our mind when reporting the mental health condition of an individual. If you count ten people, three to six will have a form of mental illness. It may not be a major mental illness, but it can be an anxiety disorder.
“You know that sometimes, someone may just have this feeling of not locking the door, meanwhile, the door had been locked. I am sure this happens to quite a number of us. You are in bed, the thought just occurred to you that you have not locked the door, only for you to check and realize that it was closed. Or you are in the market or on your way out and suddenly have this feeling of having left the door open. Some of us would return home just to confirm.
“Some will do that repeatedly, especially at night and of course, it will impact sleep because when you wake up to check, you are starting all over, and sleep goes through particular phases.
“If something like this is recurrent, it can be an indication of mental illness. It may just be at that level that it is happening, and the person is still able to function. But everyone has that risk, and three to six out of 10 people may actually have one form of mental illnesses in their lifetime.”
The psychiatry professor revealed that anxiety still constitutes the highest percentage of mental illness in the country.
He, however, lamented that despite the high risk, less than 10 per cent of people with mental illnesses are able to access treatment and called on the government to integrate mental health treatment into primary health care.
