10/02/2022
Global insight is a mental health initiative. Statistics today has shown that an estimated 20% -30%of our population suffer from mental illnesses. Unfortunately,the level of ignorance on mental health issues amongst the Nigerian public is discouraging.
Five years ago, a 16 years old had been diagnosed with Mixed anxiety depressive disorder"MADD" and he explained that he had never heard anything about mental health neither at home nor at school. There are so many people like him without an iota of knowledge on mental health especially in a society like ours where topics like this are avoided.
In the commemoration of 2018's world health mental day, the WHO confirmed that adolescence and the early years of adulthood are a time of life when changes occur. For many, these are exciting times . However, they can also be times of stress and apprehension.
Between 2014 and 2017 , 22 , 793 patients were treated for different mental health issues at the federal neuro_ psychiatric hospital in Lagos. Half of all mental conditions start by 14 years of age , most cases are undetected and untreated.
Research also further proves that gender based differences contribute significantly to the prevalence of mental health issues among young persons. Children who go through this are due to certain factors such as bad parenting, peer pressure, excess exposure to social media and internet amongst others.
Although there is a riding research on mental literacy of adults , there is yet to be a parallel interest in the mental health literacy of young people in Nigeria.
Some policies had been formulated such ad the mental health policy in 1991 e.t.c. but they do not earnestly address the issues of mental health among adolescent and young persons.
Global insight is a non governmental organization that focuses on the importance of understanding the rate and distribution of these disorders among the population and improving the Health conditions of adolescents with psychiatric identities.
