Mental health, society and me

Type :Personal Essay

Countries :Ghana

Mentality makes us who we are as individuals, a family, a country and the world as a whole. Sadly much emphasis are not being laid on mental health mainly because it's not physical and the mere thought of someone being mentally ill is abhorred. With reference to the information from the world health organization It is estimated that of the 21.6 million people living in Ghana, are suffering from a severe mental disorder.The treatment gap is 98% of the total population expected to have a mental disorder.With numbers as huge as stated above its amazing mental health is least prioritized in our society. The views people have mostly as a society when it comes to mental illness is either it's from a spiritual source or that punishment is being met on a person for his or her wrong doing. Personal experiences and curiosity gave me new perspective.
As a young child, I was always the happiest person in the room, until I was not. As a young adult growing up, I was made to feel like nothing could ever break or hurt me and I believed it all.I was taught not to question anything around me as in most African homes, what the parents say is final.
Then how did I become this hurt, broken and question seeking individual as I grew up? The year I started my journey to growth and understanding who I am and what society deems is good. I always lived at home with my family and I was protected but when I left home to start my senior high education at a boarding house far away from my family, everything I knew changed. I made new friends, learnt to adapt to my environment, I discovered so many new things and felt new and raw emotions in my first year. I came back home with questions yet my family did not give me the answers I needed; I took to reading about all I had encountered online yet I did not get the answers I searched for. All I knew was I had this huge weight on my chest, I was mostly sad yet masking it. What was wrong with me? What were these emotions? Why wouldn’t anyone help me understand this?
My search gave me a lot of answers in my school days yet none was good enough. I was fighting each day to smile and get out of my head and this mood of being sad, depressed and the feeling of no one understanding. What was I going through? It was okay to believe the idea that I was just in a mood and it would eventually pass. I ignored all the signs because when I talked mental health with my family they behaved like I had gone insane, my society says that it is not okay to have any sort of mental problem and if you do then you are labelled and checked into a box classifying you as a “mad person” .I looked up various definitions and I know mental health includes emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps us handle stress and make choices and it occurs over the course of life, so why did I have to go through this alone for a while until I got help in 2018 and thus begun my journey to self discovery and then I made my decision to change and be a change maker. 2019 was tough year with my exams and social life, the stress was drowning yet no one seemed to notice. I decided to open up and talk to a doctor and he was kind and understanding, best of all he did look at me as though I was “insane” and that made me feel so good and believe in myself that I was okay . He opened my mind to a whole new world and with talks and enough understanding I am no longer overwhelmed and when I am, I quickly check and face that problem. After my conversation, that was my turning point as I got inspired to help others who do not get the chance to talk to people who can make them feel safe, love and themselves, I knew it would be hard to break through this wall we as Africans have built concerning mental health and well-being.
When I tried to talk about mental health my society attacked me and tried to shut me down, I know what it is like to be depressed, it takes a lot out of your productive days and yet society won’t give you a chance to try and express yourself. Yes, we live in a world where we are open to discuss a lot of things yet that is not the case as society condemns the word mental health itself. I am lucky that my family opened up and helped but who is helping the millions of people who have no one or afraid to be put in a box labelled “insane”.
As a voice speaking out to help others am I being heard? Am I helping enough people? Do I have the necessary platform? What else can I do? These are questions I have asked and yet I do not have answers to. I see people being stigmatized and discriminated against and these actions make people clam up and try to fight their battles alone and thus losing. In Africa we shun away from discussing this very sensitive topic and I want to change this , and save many lives and people .