 Well, it's still the breakfast and plus TV Africa and we're looking at a fast major conversation. Today's World Mental Health Day and it's a day that's been mapped out. It's an annual event every year. Octobar the tent is meant to create awareness about mental health around the world and mobilize efforts to support those experiencing mental health issues. A oherwydd, o'r anioedd anolion, sy'n 2013, y pethau'r Mhenthal Held 2022 fel yw'r anodd Rhywun Hywyddiadol, yn hyfrifio'r anodd Held neu'r anodd hynny, yw'r anodd hynny'n hyfrifio hynny, yn ymgyrch yn hynny'n hyfrifio hynny'n hynny, ymgyrch yn hyfrifio hynny'n hyfrifio hynny, ond mae'n gyflwyngau yn y pethau hynny, Yn hyn mae'n gilydd ar isio'r ysgolennu, ym iawn... Thanks for joining us this morning. So quickly, there's been a lot of conversation about mental health and every other time some people would make statement about, this is my mental health issue, it's a mental health concern, what exactly is mental health? Mental health is a person's emotional, psychological and social well-being So when a person is able to function adequately in the different aspects of their life. So how do we know that the person is functioning adequately? So when a person is able to be productive, if a person is able to socialise properly, if a person is able to monitor their stressors adequately, and not necessarily just snap based on emotions. So one can say that this person is mentally fit or healthy. So you're looking at the conversation now. Some persons, according to the WHO, that's the World Health Organization, there's been a lot of reports saying that one in six working age adults are estimated to have a mental disorder and globally 12 million working days are lost every year on the account of depression. Would you like to share your thoughts on the statistics or this revelation from the WHO? Yes, so depression is one of the most common mental health disorders around the world. And in Nigeria as well, a lot of people have depression, but then because depression is not something that you can see just from a person's face, a person can go into depression and then they are able to function, but then on the inside they are suffering. Depression can make the bits in so many different ways. So yes, a lot of people are suffering from depression and anxiety because depression and anxiety go hand in hand and it's the most common mental health disorder. Do you care to explain depression and the anxiety and how that actually functions? Okay, so depression is loss of interest. Depression is loss of motivation. Depression is constant worry of the future but not being able to have the energy to take action, like work on new problem areas and how anxiety comes into that is when a person is worried about their future but then they are not able to work on it, they get more anxious because you can't do anything because you are depressed about it. And a lot of people are going through this but they don't necessarily know that they are going through this. You just find yourself, you are no longer interested. You find yourself withdrawn, you no longer want to go out to events or socialise with family members or see your friends anymore. And sometimes there can be a source as to maybe somebody is having financial struggles and then you just see them slowly deteriorating. They are not hanging out with people. You can't take action to do your daily task or it's slower for you. You don't have any motivation and all of that. So that's what depression comes in. So every other time we talk about mental health and mental health disorder there's always the focus on depression. Is depression the only mental health disorder that we have? There's a lot of mental health problems. Like I said, anxiety also, there are different types of anxiety. Somebody might have post-traumatic stress disorder. That's an anxiety type of anxiety. There's ADHD, there's attention deficit hyperactive disorder. So any person is too restless and they are always hyper. They have inattention. So there's also schizophrenia. So there are different kinds of mental health disorders. I think in Nigeria there might be like an ignorance to the types of disorders and how it affects people everywhere in the world, not just abroad, it affects people in Nigeria also. So yes, there are different types of mental health disorders. So I like to pay attention to the theme for 2022 mental health concern and what have you. And he says that make mental health for all a global parity. So it brings us to the crux of the conversation of whether Nigeria as a country is paying attention to mental health. Do you think that we're paying attention to mental health issues? I think there has been some form of improvement over the years but then I think there's a lot of ignorance still. At the workplace, your colleague might be struggling but you might not necessarily know. So there's so many different things that affect a person's mental health. Work stress, traffic and all of that in Nigeria for one. But then I don't think that we are there yet in terms of are we paying enough attention to people's mental health, even children get affected by mental health as well. So I don't think we are there yet but then there's been significant improvement over the years. OK, so because on this particular day I think it's very significant and I'm sure that you want to agree with me that it's important for us to talk about how we can savage the situation, what we can do to improve what we haven't been doing. I'd like you to talk about what we haven't been doing as a country, as individuals and difference fair. OK, at the country I think it's a situation where the government will probably need to invest more into the health care centre so that people can have accessible mental health treatment. As individuals it's about you taking care of yourself, being aware of yourself, self-awareness, being able to regulate, being able to speak to a professional if you need to. I think everybody needs to speak to a professional at some point. You never know what you're going to speak to somebody, also looking after yourself, going for exercises, trying to socialise the family members because those can be ways of coping when you're dealing with stress all in your life. So, I mean, as brilliant as that sounds, but I don't think that that's very realistic. Really? Yes, because if you live in Nigeria and if you live in this culture, you want to agree with me that that's really not the case for a lot of peasants. We live in a culture where the world will be, we're very conserved as a conserved society. Over time, you have the issue of personality playing a major role where people would want to preserve themselves and not just be out there with whatever you have. So, the culture of silence has constantly dominated this particular system. I really don't know about all the cultures, but I'll speak for the culture we're in. So, people don't like to talk for several reasons. Others will not want to feel like, hey, I'm vulnerable or putting on my problem there because we're talking about all of the stress and all the peasants don't want to talk about it because they feel like they probably might just be nagging and they might just be whining and sounding very weak. So, culture of silence is a very big issue if you talk about mental health because you have said it's okay to speak to professionals. How many professionals do we have? We even have a culture where we can actually say, hey, I have to go visit a psychologist or go visit someone and talk about whatever it is. So, how do we get through all of this? I think you'll be surprised at the amounts of people that are seeing therapists nowadays. I understand that in Nigeria, like you said, we are very conservative. However, I think seeing a therapist is in this confidentiality. A therapist wouldn't share what you shared with him or her to anybody else except they have your permission. Also, I'm not asking people to share with just anybody. You have people that are safe people because it's not everybody that can handle when you are talking about something traumatic or something difficult. You're being vulnerable. So, having safe people is very important. So, that's the answer to that. All right, so moving forward now, I'd like us to also talk about what we can do on a larger scale. Yes, I know that you've talked about having the hospitals and also having centres where people can actually visit. But looking at the cost of it, I know a lot of people would say that having to visit a psychologist is not cheap. So, for those that you have, we're not also talking about the stigma so every time we talk about mental health, there's also a stigmatisation around it and people will think that maybe when you're on the streets and you're very careless, you're not able to coordinate. But people will think that if I say that I'm going to be visiting a psychologist, someone might think that I'm crazy, that I'm mad. We don't use that word. No, but these are the languages. The perception. So how do we fight against this perception? Does hindring people going out to seek for help? I think so, creating more awareness and then making people aware that it's not just people that have difficult issues that need to see a therapist and then also being aware that you can't control what people think about you so worrying about what somebody else is going to say because you're going to see a therapist. The benefit is in your own life, not the other person's life so if you're able to see a therapist for your own benefit then why not do that, regardless of what people are going to say on the stigmatisation. But then I think so, the stigmatisation, it's a difficult one to shake because there's always going to be that perception. There's something really wrong with this person but then there's always a solution for things so even if you're going to the toughest times there's always going to be a solution. So let's talk about what individuals can actually do on this particular day now to help themselves. I think so what people can do is, you can research, research, the internet is very... But not everyone has access to the internet. As much as this sounds very good and okay. If you look at the country, we understand that society is divided towards the haves and the haves not. And so you can expect everyone to be at the same position. There are a lot of persons right now as we speak who don't have access to us and who cannot afford to have or enjoy this conversation and gain the knowledge and all that's been put out here this morning. So that's also a big issue. So how do we reach out to this category of persons? I think so as organisations or mental health facilities creating more awareness, going out to talk to people, going to orphanage homes, going to places where people don't necessarily have help and then providing maybe a discounted treatment for them is beneficial so they have the awareness and then they can seek if they need help. But then on the other side, if you have access to these things, doing your own research, I think just even searching for mental health facilities in Lagos now you have a different range of facilities that you can go to. There's so many sites that point you to different therapists as well. So I think there are options. It's just if you look right, you find where you're looking for. So what are the causes? If we talk about mental health and the fact that some people are not stable, you have different issues, what would you say is the cause of mental health issues? It's the cause of mental health issues. I think childhood trauma, things that happen in your childhood because there are lots of things that happen in your childhood. What kind of childhood trauma? So it could be anything. It could be from people not your parents not giving you enough attention. It could be from seeing your parents fight every day. It could be from teachers mistreating your school. It could be from bullying. So there are different causes of mental health disorders or issues. So how do we prevent it? I think, like I said, creating awareness. I think people being more mindful of how they treat other people and how their behaviour is affecting the next person. And then parents also being aware that you're raising people and then they are seeing what you're doing also important. So people being more self-aware, being able to manage their emotions, being able to self-regulate by themselves. So you're able to understand, OK, I'm making a mistake or I'm doing this and it might affect the next person in any negative way. But you cited an example of family setting, family scenario, where children could actually have, at the end of the day, once upon a time were all children, you were a child. There was a child. And we're still children even though we're not adults now. The question is at what point do people understand that experiences and actions could actually lead to this kind of negative effect on the people around them, especially as children. And this would have a long time impact. So at that point is a foundational issue. You say that it could be caused from trauma. It could be as a child. It could also be as an adult. So how do we all of us manage it as a child, as a parent, as a guardian? What do we need to do? I think self-awareness is very important. And then forgiveness also plays a role in all of this because to be able to deal with some of the traumas that you have to learn to forgive. I think as parents it's, like I said, it's very important for you to be aware of yourself and how your cousin and impact on your child or whoever is around you. Because as infants, children's personalities are developing. Your temperaments are developing. So if a child is around a parent that is not necessarily giving them attention, the child might feel like they have a problem because their parents don't necessarily want to be around them. So parents just need to be more aware, individual needs to be more aware and deal with their own traumas before you start families, before you get into relationships because when you are not in a good place mentally, it can affect your relationship with everybody. It could be your husband, it could be your children. So as an individual, you need to pay attention to yourself. Look after yourself. Look after what you are thinking about. Am I thinking negatively all the time? Do I have a positive outlook? Or am I thinking negatively? And if you are thinking negatively, that affects your behaviour and your attitude eventually. So just being aware of yourself, your emotions. So let's bring it back to our current reality. I mean, we're talking about Nigeria. If you look at it, almost every other time that you turn on, the social media is there, you turn to the left, there's a report of a young man who's brutalised his wife or a young man whose mother, his son or daughter or woman was actually done something very nasty and not morally right. Even with the law, it doesn't sit well. You hear of the inflation rates, you look at the current reality. There's so much that's going on. And so how do people manage their mental health in the midst of negativity and all of the happenings that will be going on? I think so. There's always going to be stressors. I think what I encourage people to do is focus on when you can't control other people. You can't control the... That sounds like... It's very simplistic but the truth is that a lot of our solutions are very simple but people don't necessarily think that that would be the solution because sometimes the problem is so big but then I think the solution is so small but the truth is that you can't control other people. You can only control what you're thinking about. So if I'm letting the stressors of life affect me, how I see myself and how I see the world in general is going to be negative. If I'm looking at it negatively, so you need to be very aware of what you're thinking. It's very important because, like I said, if you're thinking negatively, it affects how you're thinking about things, it affects your attitude and your behaviour. Then you find yourself snapping at shots on the road but then if you don't let things get to you, you have your positive outlook on life. It's about choice. It's about you choosing, really. So being aware and then choosing, okay, regardless of what's happening around me, I choose to be happy, I choose to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So that goes a long way to a very critical, critical situation because it sounds very pretty when you say it as you're saying it, but let's even look at someone who's not... We're looking at a very critical situation. How does a man or a woman who... I mean, we're talking about family setting now. They are not able to provide the next... They're not sure where the meal will be coming from, a loss of job and all of that and then they have a family indicator for. How can they still maintain a positive outlook? How did they even come to this point where they understand that they were supposed to be self-aware, were supposed to understand that it's our choice? Someone is hungry. I think obviously, if you do not grow up knowing that it would be difficult to adapt to that as an adult, but you need to learn... So the thing is to learn how to problem solve also so that you're not... Because of the stressors, you don't say, okay, life is bad. I'm going to sit down and not do anything. You have to keep moving. That's the thing about life. You don't give up. You are allowed to feel sad and angry about the world because it can be ugly sometimes, but then you have to pick yourself up constantly and that's where the choice comes. I choose to be happy and I choose to keep making the effort and trying and trying. I think so when a person stops and gives up, that's when the depression can't really kick in or whatever it meant to... So the last one, because we've been told to wrap up now, some people say that mental health disorder issues have led to suicide, which is like the peak of it. Do you think that that's the case? I think so. When a person is suicidal, their brain is not necessarily functioning in the right way because they've tried so many things and it might not have worked, but then, yes, it's possible to come into sight as a result of like this. Well, thank you so much. Barra Weaver, we have to go at this point in time. We appreciate your presence at this morning. Thank you very much. We have been looking at the issue of mental health. It's World Mental Health Day and we have been talking about the fact that, as a country, have we paid attention to the issue of mental health as our country, as a government, as individuals and what can we do on this particular day? Thank you. Once again, Barra Weaver. She is a clinical psychologist. Olive Prime, psychological services. Thank you for being with us. We'll take a break now. When we return, we'll be looking at all theft and pipeline fandalism. Stay with us.