A GNA feature by Dennis Peprah
Mental illness, according to medicine, is a chronic disorder diagnosed, most often by a psychiatrist, of a behavioral or mental pattern that may cause suffering, or poor ability to function in life.
Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode. Many disorders have been described with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. The causes of mental disorders are often unclear. Theories may incorporate findings from a range of fields.
Mental disorders are usually defined by a combination of how a person behaves, feels, perceives or thinks. This may be associated with particular regions or functions of the brain, often in a social context. It is believed that cultural and religious beliefs, as well as social norms, should be taken into account, when making a diagnosis.
Services are based in psychiatric hospitals or in the community, and assessments are carried out by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and clinical social workers, using various methods, but often relying on observation and questioning.
Treatments are also provided by various mental health professionals, and psychotherapy and psychiatric medication are two major treatment options. Other treatments include social interventions, peer support and self-help, while in a minority of cases, there might be involuntary detention or treatment. Prevention programmes have been shown to reduce depression.
According psychiatrists and historians, common mental disorders in Ghana include depression, dementia and schizophrenia. Stigma and discrimination could also add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders, leading to various social movements attempting to increase understanding and challenge social exclusion.
Mental health problems could cover a broad range of disorders, but the common characteristic is that they all affect the affected person’s personality, thought processes, or social interactions. They could be difficult to clearly diagnose, unlike physical illnesses.
Sometimes clinical history, family history and outlook are similar among a group of people with mental disorders and in these situations their condition could be defined as a specific disorder syndrome. According to medical experts, the human brain is the source of mental illness.
Although the symptoms of a disorder may affect any part of the body, the electrical events that produce the symptoms occur in the brain. Societal myth surrounding mental disorders is a huge challenge that impedes treatment of patients.
Because of societal marginalisation, discrimination and stigmatisation of epileptic patients, some family members fail to send patients for treatment, or seek medical advice, with the idea that the problem is linked to witchcraft.
Though medicine has proven beyond every reasonable doubt that strict adherence to the course of medication could facilitate treatment and the curing process of people with mental disabilities, families hide them in homes to protect their dignity.
Sometimes the situation is very bad in deprived areas, as communities continue to stigmatise patients, families, and relatives of the mentally-deranged, because they habour the superstitious belief that the ailment is linked to witchcraft and trans-generational curse.
Lack of required human resources and other necessary logistics, over the years, with increased access to mental health treatment services still remain a challenge in the country.
But in the Brong-Ahafo Region, the opportunity has been created to augment the government’s efforts, and thanks to MIHOSO International, a health centred non-governmental organisation (NGO), and its partners, for the implementation of a three-year project on mental health in the region.
The NGO, in collaboration with BasicNeeds Ghana, another NGO, sought funding from the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom, and started the project’s implementation in all the 27 Municipal and District Assemblies in the region in 2014.
According to Dr. Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, Chief Executive Officer of MIHOSO International, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the three-year project, expected to end in 2017, is aimed at fighting discrimination and improve access to quality healthcare for patients in the region. The project, he said, after two and half years of implementation, had achieved significant successes.
Outlining some of the achievements, Dr. Benarkuu said almost all public health facilities in the eight municipal and 19 district assemblies in the region had accepted the need to integrate mental healthcare into mainstream health care delivery.
Initially, the CEO observed, the stigmatisation of mental illness patients is very high in the health facilities, as some health workers abuse the rights of patients when they seek medical attention.
Aside these, Dr. Benarkuu said the project had identified and trained managers of 69 prayer camps and traditional healers, and created a link between them and the various Municipal and District Directorates of Health Services in the treatment and curing processes of patients.
He stated that 112 people suffering from mental illness and epilepsy have been put into groups in 17 districts, with many of them engaged in employable skills training to enhance their socio-economic well-being.
Dr. Benarkuu said the project had also trained 100 community volunteers, who detect and refer early warning signs of mental and other neurological disorders to mental health coordinators in the various districts.
He called for a Legislative Instrument (LI) to facilitate a realistic implementation of the Mental Health Law, saying, because of the lack of an LI, the law could not operate effectively.
Mr. Joseph Yere, Regional Coordinator of Mental Health, told the GNA epilepsy is recording high figures in the region.
The cases were highly reported among patients from four -18 years, he said, and commended MIHOSO International and its partners, for the support towards addressing the mental health situation in the region.
He appealed to pregnant women to attend antenatal clinics regularly, and ensure that they always deliver at health facilities.
Mr. Yere said some mental disorders and epilepsy could be treated, when patients strictly adhered to their prescriptions, and advised parents and guardians to ensure that patients regularly took their medications.
He said, depression, especially among women, is also assuming alarming proportions, and financial constraints and marital problems are some of the causes.
Mr. Yere commended the government for addressing the recurrent shortages of drugs for mental health patients, saying many are recuperating as a result of the availability of drugs.
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