The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria on Wednesday called for full implementation of the new Mental Health Act to replace the outdated Lunacy Act.
Prof. Taiwo Obindo, the association’s National President, and other stakeholders made the call at the National Mental Health Act Sensitisation workshop held in Abeokuta.
The workshop was organised by the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria in collaboration with the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, and Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
Obindo said that the outdated Lunacy Act treated individuals with mental health conditions inhumanely.
He said that under the old lunacy law, many atrocities were committed in which individuals with mental health issues were often treated like “trash”
Obindo, a consultant at Jos University Teaching Hospital, decried the inhuman treatment meted out to mental health patients under the old law.
He said: “People were just kept away from others, tied down, chained and denied any form of care”.
“The primary aim was merely to separate them from those deemed normal.
“However, the reality is that everyone with a brain is at risk of developing mental health conditions at some point in their lives.
“Therefore, we must take care of them.”
According to him, one of the significant strides of the new Mental Health Act is its emphasis on human rights and the abolition of discriminatory practices.
Obindo noted that under the Lunacy Act, individuals with mental health conditions could be unjustly dismissed from their jobs or evicted from their homes.
He added that communities could even ostracise them, saying such actions were unacceptable.
“In the past, properties of those with mental health conditions can be taken over. The new Act ensures that this is no longer possible,” he explained.
While some states like Lagos and Ekiti had already domesticated the Mental Health Act, Obindo insisted that implementation must begin at the national level.
“If, the Federal Government can implement it effectively, establish the Department of Mental Health Services within the ministry, create the Mental Health Assessment Committee, and set up the mental health fund, then states and local governments will follow suit.
“The mental health fund is crucial, as it will provide necessary funding through budgetary allocations, voluntary donations, and contributions from corporate organisations.
“This fund aims at ensuring that mental health care is adequately resourced and accessible to all who need it,” he said.
The professor emphasised the comprehensive nature of the new Mental Health Act, saying that it guaranteed the rights of individuals with mental health conditions to quality care without discrimination or stigma.
Meanwhile, Dr Paul Agboola, the Provost and Medical Director, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, commended former President Muhammadu Buhari, for signing the new Mental Health Act into law.
Agboola maintained that much effort had been made before the new Mental Health Act was passed into law.
“Several attempts have been made by the previous arms of the legislature since 1999, but we thank God that the last legislative sitting was able to get it into law,” he said.
Speaking on the expectations of the stakeholders after the workshop, Agboola said that there was a plan to domesticate the Act in Ogun State.
He stated that the Act would shape medical practices, adding that anyone who ran foul of the law was liable to face prosecution.
He called on the public to get familiar with their rights as contained in the Act and also to let the state and local governments know that certain rights are embedded in that Act.
While reviewing the Act, Dr. Yesir Kareem, a Consultant Psychiatrist for Health Security at Aro, highlighted the transformative nature of the Act, saying it had been over two decades in the making.
“We started this journey in 2003, and by 2023, we finally have an Act that has been accepted by the Federal Government,” Kareem said.
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What Is Mental Health?
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.
Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected.
Mental illness is a general term for a group of illnesses that may include symptoms that can affect a person’s thinking, perceptions, mood or behaviour. Mental illness can make it difficult for someone to cope with work, relationships and other demands.
The relationship between stress and mental illness is complex, but it is known that stress can worsen an episode of mental illness. Most people can manage their mental illness with medication, counselling or both. This page lists some of the more common mental health issues and mental illnesses.
Early Warning Signs & Symptoms
Not sure if you or someone you know is living with mental health problems? Experiencing one or more of the following feelings or behaviors can be an early warning sign of a problem:
- Eating or sleeping too much or too little
- Pulling away from people and usual activities
- Having low or no energy
- Feeling numb or like nothing matters
- Having unexplained aches and pains
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual
- Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
- Yelling or fighting with family and friends
- Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
- Having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head
- Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
- Thinking of harming yourself or others
- Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school
How to improve mental health
There are many different things you can do to improve your mental health, including:
- Staying positive. It’s important to try to have a positive outlook; some ways to do that include:
- Finding balance between positive and negative emotions. Staying positive doesn’t mean that you never feel negative emotions, such as sadness or anger. You need to feel them so that you can move through difficult situations. They can help you to respond to a problem. But you don’t want those emotions to take over. For example, it’s not helpful to keep thinking about bad things that happened in the past or worry too much about the future.
- Trying to hold on to the positive emotions when you have them
- Taking a break from negative information. Know when to stop watching or reading the news. Use social media to reach out for support and feel connected to others but be careful. Don’t fall for rumors, get into arguments, or negatively compare your life to others.
- Practicing gratitude, which means being thankful for the good things in your life. It’s helpful to do this every day, either by thinking about what you are grateful for or writing it down in a journal. These can be big things, such as the support you have from loved ones, or little things, such as enjoying a nice meal. It’s important to allow yourself a moment to enjoy that you had the positive experience. Practicing gratitude can help you to see your life differently. For example, when you are stressed, you may not notice that there are also moments when you have some positive emotions. Gratitude can help you to recognize them.
- Taking care of your physical health, since your physical and mental health are connected. Some ways to take care of your physical health include:
- Being physically active. Exercise can reduce feelings of stress and depression and improve your mood.
- Getting enough sleep. Sleep affects your mood. If you don’t get a good sleep, you may become more easily annoyed and angry. Over the long term, a lack of quality sleep can make you more likely to become depressed. So it’s important to make sure that you have a regular sleep schedule and get enough quality sleep every night.
- Healthy eating. Good nutrition will help you feel better physically but could also improve your mood and decrease anxiety and stress. Also, not having enough of certain nutrients may contribute to some mental illnesses. For example, there may be a link between low levels of vitamin B12 and depression. Eating a well-balanced diet can help you to get enough of the nutrients you need.
- Connecting with others. Humans are social creatures, and it’s important to have strong, healthy relationships with others. Having good social support may help protect you against the harms of stress. It is also good to have different types of connections. Besides connecting with family and friends, you could find ways to get involved with your community or neighborhood. For example, you could volunteer for a local organization or join a group that is focused on a hobby you enjoy.
- Developing a sense of meaning and purpose in life. This could be through your job, volunteering, learning new skills, or exploring your spirituality.
- Developing coping skills, which are methods you use to deal with stressful situations. They may help you face a problem, take action, be flexible, and not easily give up in solving it.
- Meditation, which is a mind and body practice where you learn to focus your attention and awareness. There are many types, including mindfulness meditation and transcendental meditation. Meditation usually involves:
- A quiet location with as few distractions as possible
- A specific, comfortable posture. This could be sitting, lying down, walking, or another position.
- A focus of attention, such as a specially chosen word or set of words, an object, or your breathing
- An open attitude, where you try to let distractions come and go naturally without judging them
- Relaxation techniques are practices you do to produce your body’s natural relaxation response. This slows down your breathing, lowers your blood pressure, and reduces muscle tension and stress. Types of relaxation techniques include:
- Progressive relaxation, where you tighten and relax different muscle groups, sometimes while using mental imagery or breathing exercises
- Guided imagery, where you learn to focus on positive images in your mind, to help you feel more relaxed and focused
- Biofeedback, where you use electronic devices to learn to control certain body functions, such as breathing, heart rate, and muscle tension
- Self-hypnosis, where the goal is to get yourself into a relaxed, trance-like state when you hear a certain suggestion or see a specific cue
- Deep breathing exercises, which involve focusing on taking slow, deep, even breaths
