Rising cases of mental disease

THE statistics is scary: the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba,  Lagos State, recorded a 100 percent increase in the number of psychiatric patients admitted in the hospital in 2023. The hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Olugbenga Owoeye, made this known at the Annual Score Card presentation tagged “A Day With the Medical Director” and organised by the hospital last week. According to Owoeye, the total number of new cases increased by seven per cent, while there was a three percent increase in the number of follow-up patients (male and female). The seven percent rise in new cases and three percent uptick in follow-up patients illustrates the increased demand for mental health care services. The increase in admission cases, he said, had to do with the rising cases of mental health conditions in the country following the current economic challenges in the country accompanied by other socio-economic factors. He said: “The year 2023 saw a significant rise in psychiatric patient admissions, with a 100 percent increase compared to the previous year. Notably, there was a seven per cent surge in new cases and a three percent increase in overall patient attendance.”

To be sure, mental illness is a veritable issue that needs to be addressed decisively. The fact is well-known that mentally challenged people face legal and social problems, including social isolation; experience difficulty in relationships, not to talk of general unhappiness and family conflicts. Mental illness affects energy and work schedule, and hence does reflect negatively on productivity and the ability to meet goals. In very severe cases, mentally ill people have to be literally confined to specific spaces and subjected to a regime of treatment in order to safeguard the lives of other citizens. Especially in countries like Nigeria, mentally ill people tend to face stigmatization even after they have recovered from their ailments, and the question whether public has changed people’s perception of mental illness and mentally ill people over the years remains salient. Against this backdrop, it is distressing that there has been a  staggering surge in psychiatric patient admissions at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.

Because the surge has been linked to the prevailing economic challenges across the country, it is not hard to surmise that a positive change in circumstances would help to address the problem in a very significant way. It is hypocritical, if not insane, to subject people to harrowing conditions of life and then turn around to express surprise when people react to those conditions in ways that suggest that their mental health has been adversely affected. It is just like the proverbial misadventure of beating a child and insisting that (s)he must not cry. It is a comprehensively demonic tactic. The government must address economic factors.  By its negligence and irresponsibility, it is contributing to mental health challenges and the time has come for it to act, and very decisively too.  How can a population that is increasingly challenged mentally give of its best to societal development?

Only those who are not perceptive would not see the obvious link between the increase in admissions at the neuropsychiatric hospitals and the growing economic challenges in the country. When people are challenged economically without any remedy, as presented by the economic realities in the country today, the result would be despondency, hopelessness and mental crisis with obvious negative implications for life and living in the country. We have often called the attention of the government to the importance of addressing frontally and concretely the economic challenges and cost of living crisis in the country in order to preserve the dignity of the people and make life meaningful for them. People have to have a sense of self-worth and dignity in their daily interactions with their environment. We hope that the public attention the disclosure of the CMD of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, on the increasing admissions at the hospital has garnered will sensitise Nigerians and the government to the grave consequences of the inclement economic conditions in the country and the associated mental health implications.

Nigeria is in dire straits and it is important for the government to apprehend the urgency of the current situation and not wait for the whole edifice to fall on itself before taking realistic remedial actions. The time to act is now.

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