A Neuro-Psychiatrist, Dr Taiwo L Sheikh, has urged Nigerians to start making routine checks on their mental health.

He said many Nigerians were never aware that the state of anomie arising from terrorism, hopelessness, poverty and others being forced on them by the country’s economic downturn, have been imposing emotional disorder on them.

The psychiatrist said the increasing acts of terrorism, armed robbery, gangsterism, prostitution and other social disorder in character traits of Nigerians are manifestations of mental disorder caused by the unencouraging situation of things in the country.

The Medical Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital based in Kaduna said a good number of Nigerians moved about with signs of mental disorder which, he said, were never known to them, a reason he appealled for routine psychiatric test by those who feel things were not normal in their systems.

Sheik, the first Psychiatry expert produced at the Ahmadu Bello University  (ABU), Zaria, listed sleep disorder, low libido or sexual dysfunction, poor appetite, crawling sensation around the body, internal heat, gluttony and others, as early signs of mental disorder which, he said, could be corrected if detected early enough.

He said cases of mental disorder which, according to him, might ultimately lead to insanity, have no fewer than 1,000 diagnostic types which must be detected early enough before they degenerated into chronic ailments.

“The problems of terror in our society and psychological trauma are parts of manifestations of mental disorder in some Nigerians. The cases of bomb blasts here and there are enough to cause psychological trauma for people. Panic could be traumatic. It is so bad that when you are in a market place and someone shouts for help, everybody begins to take to their heels and then the market shuts down. Ten years ago, if you shouted wa yoo, people would come to your rescue and give you aid,” he noted

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written by Olu, August 04, 2012

Very correct. The true cause of it all that should be urgently addressed.

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Nigerian mental health
written by fon, August 04, 2012

Well said,but do Nigerians care? Anxiety is endemic in Nigeria, that is why people flock to these religious establishments for immediate unavailable relief.Because they vol unable, these preachers of all faith, hand them the after death glory as consultation plus they pay with their little earthly possession .

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