Mental Illness: High Prevalence Among Children In Nigeria, Says Expert
According to Dr. Henry Ojenya, a clinical psychologist, 10–20 per cent of children in Nigeria have a mental health condition.
He explained the that the condition is a developmental disorder that is known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and leads to them having anxiety and depression which has a significant lifelong impact on the children, who will later become youths, and their families.
During an interaction with journalists in Jos, the Plateau State capital, following the Children’s Day celebrations, the psychologist said that in light of mental health disorders which are not widely known, they have been focusing on creating public awareness.
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He stated that recently, a roundtable discussion had been organized by the CHARIS Healthcare and Community Support Initiative, which is funded by a German Foundation, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and that the focus of the discussion was regarding the need to address the farmers-herders crisis in North Central Nigeria as the crisis is capable of instigating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among farming communities.
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Dr. Ojenya stressed that the psychological effects of the crisis could manifest itself as emotional exhaustion, stress, anxiety, psychological distress trauma, phobia, nightmares, irritability, hopelessness and depression.
He explained and pointed out that mental health cases also had a high prevalence rate amongst women in the region, and that was confirmed by a Dr. Aishatu Yusha’u, a consultant psychiatrist, who emphasized upon the need to address the mental disorder among women and youths in the region.
An outline was given by Dr. Armiya’u of the physical, economic, social and psychological far-reaching repercussions of the crisis on the region’s stability and women who face all manner of abuses in the process.
