By John Odhe, YENAGOA
The Federal University, Otuoke (FUO) has decried the increasing rate of mental health challenges across Nigeria, attributing it to traumatic life experiences such as anxiety, inflation, unemployment, underemployment, uncertainties, financial stress, insecurity, frustration, kidnapping, banditry and herders attacks.
This was discussed at the 32nd Inaugural Lecture of FUO presented by Professor Juliet Bodise-ere Teibowei titled “Many Are Mad, But Few Are Roaming: The Counselling Psychologist To The Rescue”at the university.
She explained that the above mentioned disorders can trigger seemingly normal people to over react from minor provocations, resulting in conflicts especially in working environment.
The Bayelsa State born Professor of Guidance and Counseling Psychology traced the beginning of mental health to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 3 and stated that mental health is like a social capital, without which people are bankrupt.
The inaugural lecturer said her topic was anchored on the concept of mental health and defined it from the World Health Organization perspective as a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with normal stresses of life, work productively, fruitfully, and make contributions to his or her community, while the opposite is mental disorder.
Teibowei who doubles as the Dean Students Affairs hinted that there are many who are mad that have not lost touch with reality but are facing mental health issues, few are seen and known as mad while the roaming few have lost touch with reality.
She informed that the more unstable Nigeria is, the more unstable the mental health of the citizens will become, emphasizing that professional assistance is needed to cater for those suffering from mental disorder.
The academic lamented that there are only 10 functional neuropsychiatric hospitals in Nigeria serving 200 million population with 250 practising psychiatrists and advocated for the intervention of Counseling Psychologists to rescue society from the silent and wide spread challenge.
The Vice Chancellor of FUO, Prof. Promise Mebine called for proper examination of mental disorder in all the schools in Nigeria and appealed for government’s urgent intervention.
He thanked the Bayelsa State commissioner for works and Infrastructure, Mr. Moses Teibowei for his support to the university and appealed for government’s intervention to fixed some potholes on the institution’s internal roads.
