The general wellbeing of everyone greatly depends on their mental health which is as important as physical health. However, majority of people ignore to prioritize their mental health, suffering silently in communities.
World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as a state of wellbeing in which every individual realizes his/her own potential, can cope with normal stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully and is able to make contributions to the community.
Reports indicate that over 14 million Ugandans face mental illness, a condition that impacts a person’s thinking and feeling, affecting their ability to relate to others and function normally.
Persons with mental and psychosocial problems often face stigma and discrimination as well as high levels of physical and sexual abuse, which can occur in a range of settings, including police cells, prisons, hospitals and homes among others.
Stigma and other violations against people with mental health problems have reportedly resulted to the growing suicidal cases with an estimated number of 700,000 deaths from suicide in Uganda per year.
Derrick Kizza Mbuga the Executive director of Mental Health Uganda (MHU), underscores that a number of myths and negative perceptions exist in societies, leading to discrimination, stigmatization and violation of rights of persons with mental health challenges.
MHU is a civil society organization established in 1977 to respond to the overwhelming marginalization and abuse of rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities.
Kizza states that everyone is a candidate to a mental health problem despite of their age, gender, religion and profession among others.He is optimistic on the causes of mental health problems which are unclear but have hereditary and environmental core factors.
Mental illness is common in people whose blood relatives also have the mental challenge.
“Busoga, Karamoja and Bukedi sub regions and other areas with extreme poverty and homeliness are likely to have high mental health challenges among the citizens as poverty as a crucial cause of mental health problems,” explains Kizza.
Other environmental causes include unhealthy relationships and their effects of divorce, domestic and gender-based violence and abuse of children’s rights.
Excessive consumption of alcohol and other harmful substances and chronic illnesses like HIV, Cancer and others.
Kizza further states that; “Some people are more vulnerable than others especially persons exposed to and displaced by war and other disasters like landslides and pandemics.”
The common indicators that someone is developing a mental health problem include: Hearing voices and seeing things that others do not observe, excessive fear, worries and anxieties. Social withdrawal from friends and activities, suicidal thoughts among others also signify a person developing mental challenges.
Kizza, however, is concerned with the government’s policy of criminalizing attempted suicide, urging authorities to address the causes of suicides especially jobs among the youths.
He advocates for free rehabilitation centers for effective guidance and counseling towards victims.
Mental health problems in societies are always attributed to magic and watch craft which Kizza encourages locals to refer individuals with mental health problem symptoms to health facilities for diagnosis instead of traditional healers.
He appeals communities to be kind and supportive to persons with mental health challenges to contribute to their recovery.
