A medical health expert in Bauchi, Dr Peter Sule Ajasonsaid the novel coronavirus pandemic has likely exacerbated cases of depression in Nigeria.
Dr Peter said the imposed lockdown in Nigeria which saw public places like worship centres, schools, markets, and government buildings which usually interfered with people’s social lives may have impacted on their mental health and balance.
The health expert said although there are no official national documented data on the rate of suicide, “between 2012 and 2016 WorldHealth Organization (WHO) reported that the suicide rate in Nigeria rose from6.5 per 100,000 people to 9.5 per 100, 000, making Nigeria ranked 15thin the World and 7th in Africa in suicide rating.”
He said; “in practice, many clinicians will agree with me that with since February 2020 till date the number of patients that have presented to the clinics with various degrees of depression with or without suicidal ideation and/ attempts have increased.”
“With the closure of the places mentioned, people’s social interaction was cut off, a lot of businesses experienced losses, others completely shut down, private organizations laid-off workers in order to save cost, people with blue-collar jobs had nothing to do, and as a result, they soon spent the little savings they had”, he argued.
The medical expert said with unemployment already a challenge in the country, job losses, financial difficulties, idleness, ‘the stay at home’ order from the government months back and the current economic recession, the miseries of Nigerians has unimaginable predisposed many to various degrees of depression.
“Students who are forced to leave school and stay at home for about 10 months, now find themselves completely idle, and as the saying goes ‘an idle mind is the devil’s workshop’. “Some students have picked up bad habits like drug and substance abuse which is a risk factor for suicide”, he added.
He said families were only “a spouse was employed and lost his/her job as a result of the lockdown struggled financially and as a result, some experienced marital conflicts, which made some depressed and others had suicidal ideation.”
Dr Peter lamented that despite the increase in depression in Nigeria, “only a few Nigerians pay keen attention to their mental health and that of their loved ones, this is because the average Nigerian family is first concerned with what to eat, before bothering about someone’s mental health.”
He argued that the Nigerian society is yet “to embrace openness, people who try to see help when they are in some form of dilemma, or rough spot is seen to be weak, hence making a lot of people to ‘suffer in silence’.
He advised that people should be encouraged “to seek mental health counselling when they need one from people they trust and are comfortable to share their challenges with.”
