Mental health is not a serious topic in Africa. Yes, a few countries might take it serious but then majority of the countries have something else that they attribute it to. Sadly, we have all grown up with the same mentality. I agree that as kids things were worse than they are now. As children we were made to believe that whenever we saw a mad man or woman he was or she was either inflicted with madness from someone who didn’t like him or her.
Infact it was the same ideology which was in our films. We have come a long way and now the education is going wide and beyond. Even though it is going wide and beyond we still have people who think that a mad person is as a result of punishment or hatred.
One other misconception that we have in this part of the world is that anything other than going mad is not actually a mental illness. So most at times someone might be suffering from a mental illness which demands he or she goes to see a therapist but because we don’t believe in such that same person suffers in silence until it has gotten out of hand. Just like we tend to treat malaria when it gets out of hand I believe we can still treat mental illness even if it gets out of hand.
In my part of the country if you see a mad young boy or lady it is being attributed to drugs. Yes, I agree that a lot of youth in this part of the country resort to drugs for their coping mechanisms but not everyone does drugs and someone who has a mental illness doesn’t mean he or she does drugs as well. But can you blame those who think like that? It’s the norm so everyone tends to believe in it.
For me, I don’t think I have a coping mechanism. I think for most part of the time I am seen to be smiling. There are days that I feel really bad and the only thing that I can do is to stay in bed for a long time. For me, I believe even for the best people they still face one or two sad days. We are humans and no matter your level of achievement you feel lonely at times. Being lonely doesn’t mean you’re not loved, it’s just something that everyone passes through.
I don’t know if I can attribute this to my coping mechanism but then I’ll talk about it cause it helps me clear my head. For me, I don’t like calls. Yes, I am a talkative. I talk a lot especially when I am free with you. Hell, even if I am not free with you I tend to talk a lot as well. But one thing that I never understand is now I don’t like talking on the phone. I feel like it slows my life down.
So there was this time that I had to cut one girl off cause she was literally draining me mentally. She wanted me to call all the time which was a distraction or something which I wasn’t comfortable with. I had to show signs of not wanting to talk to her on mobile till she stopped asking. The thing is, if she was just asking I wouldn’t complain but she was taking the initiative to call me even if I didn’t and boy I didn’t like it.
So for me, not making calls gives me the peace of mind that I desire and I think I’ll always cherish it. Unless of cause it’s my girlfriend lol.