BY LISA TAZVIINGA
THE world might be evolving and getting better ways to understand and deal with problems it faces, with mental health being one of the least understood topics, especially in Africa and in particular Zimbabwe.
This is mainly because most of the population still associates mental health issues with evil spirits, demons and curses; both traditionally and among various religious sects.
In some cases, mental health patients are regarded as lazy, fragile, selfish or even “crazy”. There is generally a lot of stigma associated with suffering from mental illness of any kind.
Research has shown that Africa has the highest number of people who suffer from depression.
According to a recent study by researchers at Australia’s University of Queensland, the Middle East and North African regions suffer the world’s highest depression rates, which have resultantly led to a massive loss of lives over the years.
Zimbabwe is not spared from cases of depression.
According to a recent study, one in every four Zimbabwean has suffered from a mental health condition, yet in most cases, there is little or no acknowledgment of how to deal with the conditions.
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Countrywide, there are six State institutions which offer services to mental health patients, but recent media reports have highlighted that these institutions are overcrowded.
Anxiety and depression, alcohol and substance abuse disorders and organic mental disorder are among some of the most common mental health problems in Zimbabwe.
Due to the lack of knowledge concerning depression and other mental health problems, most people end up shying away and not seeking the help they need because of the need to maintain their social statuses.
Mercy Ruzvidzo, a patient of depression who recently sought medical attention, is one of the people who suffered silently from a mental health condition for over five years.
“I suspected that I was depressed about five years ago after I was struggling to sleep, almost always anxious. I also struggled with appetite. I ‘googled’ my symptoms and discovered that they were very similar to those that a depressed person would experience,” she said.
“My first instinct was to confide in someone, and I told my boyfriend who immediately discouraged me from seeing a psychiatrist or any specialist because people would think I was crazy.”
She then lived with the condition for five more years without seeking medical attention, all because her boyfriend and her family could not bear the humiliation of being related to a “mental patient”.
For five years, she struggled with her condition in silence.
Yet, Ruzvidzo is not alone in this dilemma. Stigmatisation is rife when it comes to issues of mental health.
Sacrifice Chirisa, a mental health practitioner, highlighted stigmatisation as one of the major challenges that patients face.
He said stigmatisation was not exclusive to mental health patients, but also extends to those who work with such patients like nurses and doctors.
“People suffering from mental health conditions are heavily stigmatised in society, and so are their care givers. When I decided to be a psychiatrist, even my family was sceptical because they imagined I would end up crazy myself, which is not true,” Chirisa said.
He added that though government was making efforts to encourage people to get medication and facilitating mental health services, appreciation of mental health issues was still quite low in Zimbabwe.
A number of activists across the country have recently emerged to fight the stigmatisation of mental health patients along with the already existing groups such as Christian Counselling Centre, Connect and Friendship Bench, with most of them using social media platforms as well as radio and television programmes to create awareness among citizens.
Though greatly appreciated, these efforts are still far from getting to the core of the problem, mainly because of the media used.
About 75% of Zimbabwe’s population is rural-based and is less participative on social media. This greatly reduces the number of people reached through sites such as Instagram and Twitter.
Gamuchirai Chinamasa, a mental health advocate, also raised concerns over the poor appreciation of mental health problems in the country and implored government to place more emphasis on ensuring the availability of mental health facilities.
“As a country, we don’t quite understand what mental health is. Most people who suffer from mental health are labelled as lazy or privileged. Our health sector does not acknowledge mental health and how many lives it has taken each month. Mental health has, therefore, been stigmatised to a point where those in need are embarrassed to ask for help or even know where to get help,” Chinamasa said.
Faith Sibanda, an expert in indigenous knowledge, however, believes most of the conditions that people now suffer from were heavily managed within the indigenous systems, reducing the effects of mental health conditions.
“In the African traditional context, depression and stress are viewed as a result of bottling issues up until a point of no return. Indigenous societies did not allow such a scenario to occur. Uncles and aunts had a duty to monitor the behaviour of family members to see if they were in an unpleasant mood so that they could find out the cause and solve it. Some of the situations that depress people nowadays were handled in a systematic manner so that damage would be avoided,” he said.
“For instance, death of a loved one was communicated in a certain manner. It is not everyone who could announce the death, it was left to specific individuals who knew how to handle the person and avoid making them slide into depression. After the funeral, a chosen family member would stay with the bereaved for a period deemed necessary to make sure that the grief did not overwhelm the person. In a way, no one would suffer from depression due to death.”
Sibanda said even to date, traditional methods of dealing with mental health conditions are effectively used in some societies, though not discrediting medial solutions to these conditions.
