In Uganda, we need to normalize visiting psychiatrists and other mental therapists. Mental health conditions can be diagnosed and treated just like any other condition. There is a boy whose parents were sure he's just stubborn and just doesn't want to study. #MentalHealthMatters
Unknown to them, the boy had been bullied at school for over a year, was fighting severe depression and was losing the battle. It's a counselor who met the child once that recommended a psychiatrist. Around 4-5 months down the road, the boy was back to full health. #mentalhealth
The parents had been using the wrong therapy for a wrong illness. They were caning the boy, teachers at school suspending him, insulting him and all. Until you get to know the illness, you can't treat the illness. Parents, before you punish children, study the problem fully.
If you can't study the situation alone, ask for help. Your child is dismissed from six schools in just O' Level and you think they're just stubborn? 🤔 Ever sat down with them to understand what's really going on? Ever thought about visiting a behavioral therapist? A counsellor?
Sometimes, we're just quenching a thirst with potatoes. It's not gonna work. However, if you know the problem, for example, that the child has thirst, would you still offer them potatoes? No! Now that you know better, you'd offer them water or juice to quench the thirst.
But now, are we gonna do that when we think Butabika Hospital is for 'mad' people like we call them. Psychiatrists help us to know what's happening to us in our mental structures, just like a dentist tells us what's happening with our teeth.
Psychiatrists will give you a diagnosis and either treat you or recommend treatment — could be medication or behavioral therapy. Learn to find out whether it's hunger or thirst before deciding on what will work. Lets normalize visiting psychiatrists when we sense something amiss.
Sometimes, I even wonder how psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners including counselors in this country survive when we don't take mental health serious. The counselors we know are HIV/AIDS counselors yet in other countries such careers are among the highest paid.
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