60m Nigerians Have Mental Health Issues – Psychiatrist

About 60 million Nigerians are having mental related issues, medical director, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Aishatu Armiya’u has said.

According to her, child abuse and broken marriages are behind the rising cases of mental health.

She stated this at an Inter School debate and quiz competition organised to mark the 2023 World Mental Health Day.

Armiya’u said the international day of the girl child coming up barely 24 hours after the international day of mental health was not just a coincidence. It equally made a case for improved budgetary provision for training and retraining of experts in mental health especially at a period when children and adolescents are at the mercy of social media.

Also, a psychiatrist who specialises in children and adolescents mental health at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, FNPH Kaduna, Dr Chiagozikam Aniweta in her lecture titled “ Making Mental Health A Universal Human Right” said it is important for pregnant women to opt for delivery in hospitals where qualified medical personnel will attend to them because any little problem at that crucial point goes a long way in determining the mental stability of such an infant later in life

While explaining that the formation of the human brain begins around the first trimester of pregnancy, the expert stated that the actual brain development never takes shape fully until a person is 20 years old hence the need for parents and guardians to be their children’s best friends during the delicate teenage years when youthful exuberance is readily mistaken for psychological maturity.

Aniweta who listed adventurous experimentations, tendency to undertake risky trips , carefree behaviours as well as misplaced priorities as most visible manifestations of the difficult years of young adulthood urged fathers and mothers to be more attentive to the needs, aspirations and ambitions of their children before they choose the wrong heroes in the society to emulate.

On the ever increasing intrusion of social media into the lives of the upcoming generation, Dr Aniweta cautioned parents and guardians against exposing the children to the internet too early in life as it would interfere with their creativity, productivity and independent decision – making process.