IN THE RING OF LIFE; A CRY FOR SUPPORT OR A POINT OF STIGMA?

Imagine that you are living a "normal" life with your family. You are either a thriving student or worker, father or breadwinner of the home, mother of the family, child or sibling who hopes to live a fruitful life and be able to support his or her loved ones and those around him or her.

Suddenly you wake up one morning and you feel out of sorts. You have no energy to go to school or work; you feel restless and tired; you snap at everyone and everything. Continuously for two weeks and more, you gradually begin to lose your sense of thought, behaviour, physical abilities and can't seem to function properly. You are unable to eat well or you begin to just overeat. You struggle to sleep or oversleep; you can't concentrate; and you have unexplained somatic symptoms like headaches, diarrhoea, indigestion, chest pains and heart palpitations. 

Just imagine for a moment that you suddenly experience an onset of dread and fear of the unknown through panic attacks and all you can think of is a strong sense of worthlessness and recurring thoughts of death. You hear strange voices, see or smell things that are peculiar to you alone and somehow, you are afraid of dying on one hand but on other hand, you start thinking of ways to self-harm believing that the world would be better without you in it. You are suddenly lost to yourself, colleagues at work or school and especially your family and friends. You are unable to face anyone and become socially withdrawn. You feel vulnerable, exposed and helplessly watch your life fade right in front of you.

My dear reader, pause at this moment, hard as it may seem, and try to imagine how such a condition can affect you as an individual, your family, friends and everyone who counts on your well-being in society. Dear friend, this includes but few signs and symptoms of certain mental health conditions!

I cannot perceive how you are feeling with the little exercise above. However, I can identify with the extreme anguish mental health clients face due to the intense state of helplessness and vulnerability the condition can subject one to. The frustrating reality and confusion is that everything which once made life meaningful to you is no longer present while those who matter in your life seem to gradually “disappear” and you helplessly watch your life pass you by... 

Then comes denial about the condition in most cases as experienced by clients, their families and sometimes close friends. The dark truth is that things are not as they were and may never be the same for such individuals. This may be so because the condition can only be treated hopefully in good time and managed for the rest of one's lifetime. This is all with the hope that the client does not go back in remission. (The big question here the client may ask oneself is: “Have I really lost my sanity and my life?”).

So, you may be wondering by now about why this sensitive reflection is up today. Well, it is necessary because mental health conditions can affect anyone and everyone! Some cases are provoked by unidentified causes, chemical imbalances in the brain, hereditary, major life transitions or environmental factors. It is a medical condition which can be caused by anything, everything and nothing! 

Unfortunately, we live in a world where unlike other health conditions in which a patient can be taken to the hospital for treatment, mental health conditions are often associated with situations where therapy and clinical treatment for clients are shunned by some individuals, families and society in general.

Some common descriptions used to address or refer to mental health clients may include "Are you mad?", “He or She is crazy", "Stop being lazy and making excuses", "Stop pretending", "It is the devil attacking him or her", "What crime did you commit, confess and be saved?", "Snap out of it and move on", and "Everyone has problems, stop being an attention seeker". 

The social stigma, uninformed negative public perception and judgements clients may experience is enough demotivation to prevent clients from seeking the right treatment in time from trained mental health professionals like psychiatrists, psychotherapists or counsellors, mental health nurses or community psychiatric nurses. 

Unfortunately, clients are often lost to dire consequences like leaving home and getting lost, being abandoned at mental health facilities by relatives, losing their jobs or source of income, family rejection, breakdown of their marriages and even suicide! It seems all gloomy, doesn't it? But, there is yet some hope. 

Picture now, a society where mental health clients can freely walk into the psychiatric hospital or rehabilitation facilities for early diagnosis and treatments without fear of stigma. Imagine a society where mental health clients are treated with love, support and patience as they navigate through the negative thoughts and distortions in their mind to return to a reasonable level of normalcy. 

Imagine being an active participant in creating a world where abnormal conditions are given the necessary attention and interventions at appropriate health facilities rather than leaving clients in prayer camps where they are chained to trees, left at the mercy of the sun or rain, beaten mercilessly, unfed and dehumanized under the guise of demonic exorcism. In some instances, families pay huge monies to spiritual healers for interventions which may not yield much positive results! Research has shown that at least one person in every family has a case of mental health illness. It is, therefore, closer to us all than we can ever comprehend. 

 

If we can seek immediate medical interventions for breakdown in our legs, hands, stomach, ears, eyes, nose, throat, teeth and heart, why should it be a shame to seek clinical treatment for any breakdown or disturbance in our brain?

Mental health conditions are difficult to manage and take a huge toll on the overall life of the client, immediate relations and caregivers. The anguish clients may face due to social stigma may make the road of recovery tiresome and they may even give up as reintegration into society may seem near impossible. Rather than build shame, stigma and disgust for such vulnerable persons, can we offer care, support and guidance for them to seek clinical counselling and psychological health interventions to alleviate the negative impact of the condition? 

There is no shame in living on medication for mental health conditions. Although studies show that there is no cure for mental health conditions, treatments (medication and therapy) can be very useful for clients to live a fruitful and  fairly stable life for many years. 

How do you treat clients with mental health conditions? Always remember that, it could happen to anyone: me, you or yours!