A resident psychiatrist, Dr Raliat Akerele, has called on the media to partner with mental health specialists in their reportage of mental health illnesses to reduce stigma.

Akerele, President, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, made the call on Wednesday at the association’s Annual General Meeting, in Yaba, Lagos.

She said that the media would help in improving health communication around mental health.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that theme of the AGM was: “Mental Illness and Media”.

Akerele said: “The media is a sensitive and important organisation that can give a better reportage of mental health issues in a way that stigmatisation around mental illnesses will be reduced.

“The media has been seen portraying our society’s views on mental illness in a disparaging manner.

“They talk about the mentally-ill people being violent or patients having mental illness due to spiritual causes or having sinned against God.

“All these portrayals do not help people with mental illness to seek care at the appropriate place.

“The person with mental illness has suffered, his family and even the society had suffered; and these people would have been contributing meaningfully to the society.

“Today, because of these portrayals and due to ignorance, people will rather go to churches or mosques before they go to the hospital.“

She said that mental illness was not as a result of spiritual causes or moral failure, adding that there was treatment for it.

According to her, a person with mental illness can still function properly; during and after treatment and they can still live their optimal potential in life.

“We want the media to pass this message across to the public by making sure they use the correct terminologies.

“If there is better partnership with the media, the causative factors of mental illness will be better understood by society,” she said.

Also, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, speaking as a guest speaker, said that role of the media was to provide public education on prevention, effective and cheap treatment and rehabilitation of mental illness.

Abdulmalik, who is a Consultant Psychiatrist and lecturer at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said that the media was expected to reduce discrimination by helping the public under personal challenges.

“The media needs to humanise mental illness; get someone who has gone through the condition and has recovered.

“When you talk about real life human stories, it makes people have a second opinion at the way they treat others who have mental illness.

“The media also has the role of discouraging suicidal attempts and giving hope that people with mental illness can cope with the condition and other things in life, “ he said.

Abdulmalik said that the treatment gap in mental health in Nigeria was huge.

According to him, the treatment gap in the country is 80 per cent, meaning that out of 10 people, only two will get treatment.

“So, a huge number of patients we are dealing with in Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, is just a tip of the ice berg.  It is nothing compared to the reality of what is going on.

“Improving health communication around mental health is very important, and we need to tap into all the media options that we have,“ Abdulmalik said.

-NAN

BE

– Jan. 9, 2019 @ 16:30 GMT |