Opinion / Columnist
Mental illness amongst us, Zimbabwe has lost the battle and should wage a war
15 May 2018 at 07:42hrs | Views
A study has shown 75% of the Zimbabwean population has once suffered from mental illness, somewhere in their journey called life this has been caused by a variety of factors which include but are not limited to dysfunctional families, inherited traits, environmental exposure before birth, economic challenges, brain chemistry even failure of companies like NSSA to pay out pensioners who were on their program.
Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions, disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts schizophrenia, eating disorders, addictive behaviors and Alzheimers as proven by recent studies at the Essex university.
Mental illness in Zimbabwe has made people miserable caused problems at work, school in relationships even in families. Families have become dysfunctional that unlucky child being scapegoated by their loved ones, up to small things like forgetting were one has put their house keys it can all be traced to mental illness which the Zimbabwean community has chose to ignore there are no depression or Alzheimers clinics this is a vicious cycle which also makes our country one of the poorest and being poor as a country also contributes to such.
Signs and symptoms of mental illness can vary, depending on the disorder, circumstances and other factors. Mental illness symptoms can affect emotions, thoughts and behaviors. For example feeling sad or down depending on seasons which is termed bipolar disorders (what we laugh in Zimbabwe saying to others Mwedzi mutete), excessive fears worries or extreme feelings of guilt, Confused thinking, reduced ability to concentrate, withdrawal from friends or society, Inability to cope with daily stress and so on.
Major reasons why Zimbabweans mental strength has dwindled over the last 10 years has something to do with our Financial problems, Zimbabwe has suffered economically for as long I have been on earth I am now 21 we we seem not to be able to fix economic problems that has been there for over 15 years. The longer we wait the more it becomes impossible for us to fix this mental illness that now bedevil 3 quarters of our people, how long shall we hear of unexplained suicides, how long shall our people suffer from stroke , how long will our youths escape reality by swallowing ecstasy pills. Zimbabweans scattered across the world especially those in England have been found not to be in their normal mental capacity they have even lost shame and dignity lost their identity , even if one has a great job and nice place in a foreign land the chickens will come home to roost, the ancestors will ask their child to come back to the dump hole country they left. Our first failure was not to put our war veterans on a rehabilitation program after war most of them died through suicide , or lived through a life of nightmares night after night.
Mental health problems in Zimbabwe have been classified as a demon by the society making those suffering from it gullible and their limited pockets are left at the mercy of man of cloth. People now receive "holy water" to fix problems that are physical , I acknowledge the need for spiritual life but when our mental chemistry is at such a stage we need not that but we need our government to acknowledge that this demon needs resources channeled towards it and they allow setting up of the relevant institutions even a ministry to deal with such the minister of health is an incompetent man after enriching himself he doesn't seem able to catch this bull by its horns.
It is getting too late someone somewhere must join hands with us to bring an end to unexplained strokes , suicides , family quarrels and other problems caused by this monster in our house. Of course I don't expect the government to listen I wrote to it before it bought snow graders for our roads in a potholed country in the Savanna they did not listen to a humble advice and a plea to see our country work .
Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions, disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts schizophrenia, eating disorders, addictive behaviors and Alzheimers as proven by recent studies at the Essex university.
Mental illness in Zimbabwe has made people miserable caused problems at work, school in relationships even in families. Families have become dysfunctional that unlucky child being scapegoated by their loved ones, up to small things like forgetting were one has put their house keys it can all be traced to mental illness which the Zimbabwean community has chose to ignore there are no depression or Alzheimers clinics this is a vicious cycle which also makes our country one of the poorest and being poor as a country also contributes to such.
Signs and symptoms of mental illness can vary, depending on the disorder, circumstances and other factors. Mental illness symptoms can affect emotions, thoughts and behaviors. For example feeling sad or down depending on seasons which is termed bipolar disorders (what we laugh in Zimbabwe saying to others Mwedzi mutete), excessive fears worries or extreme feelings of guilt, Confused thinking, reduced ability to concentrate, withdrawal from friends or society, Inability to cope with daily stress and so on.
Major reasons why Zimbabweans mental strength has dwindled over the last 10 years has something to do with our Financial problems, Zimbabwe has suffered economically for as long I have been on earth I am now 21 we we seem not to be able to fix economic problems that has been there for over 15 years. The longer we wait the more it becomes impossible for us to fix this mental illness that now bedevil 3 quarters of our people, how long shall we hear of unexplained suicides, how long shall our people suffer from stroke , how long will our youths escape reality by swallowing ecstasy pills. Zimbabweans scattered across the world especially those in England have been found not to be in their normal mental capacity they have even lost shame and dignity lost their identity , even if one has a great job and nice place in a foreign land the chickens will come home to roost, the ancestors will ask their child to come back to the dump hole country they left. Our first failure was not to put our war veterans on a rehabilitation program after war most of them died through suicide , or lived through a life of nightmares night after night.
Mental health problems in Zimbabwe have been classified as a demon by the society making those suffering from it gullible and their limited pockets are left at the mercy of man of cloth. People now receive "holy water" to fix problems that are physical , I acknowledge the need for spiritual life but when our mental chemistry is at such a stage we need not that but we need our government to acknowledge that this demon needs resources channeled towards it and they allow setting up of the relevant institutions even a ministry to deal with such the minister of health is an incompetent man after enriching himself he doesn't seem able to catch this bull by its horns.
It is getting too late someone somewhere must join hands with us to bring an end to unexplained strokes , suicides , family quarrels and other problems caused by this monster in our house. Of course I don't expect the government to listen I wrote to it before it bought snow graders for our roads in a potholed country in the Savanna they did not listen to a humble advice and a plea to see our country work .
Source - Simplisio Muvunde
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