•L-R:
Consultant Psychiatrist, Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba,
Lagos, Dr. Dapo Adegbaju; Ex-Head, Nursing Services, Mrs. Oluwemimo
Akinremi; Chairperson, Community Outreach, Dr. Olufunmilayo Akinola;
General Secretary, Friends of FNPH, Mr. Lanre Akeredolu; and Mr. Oyewole
Ogunbayo at the World Mental Health Day in Lagos...on Friday.
It was a pathetic story punctuated with a little relief before it nose-dived into hopelessness again.
As told by his uncle, a young man, Gideon, suddenly became mentally ill when he was about 18. The general practitioner who first attended to him advised his relations to let him see a psychiatrist and he was taken to the psychiatric hospital. The psychiatrist later diagnosed his illness as schizophrenia.
They were hearing the term for the first time, and because of the difficulty to also correctly pronounce it, Gideon’s relations concluded that it was over for their young son. But the psychiatrist assured them that the case was treatable. And truly, after months of medications and counselling, Gideon bounced back to life.He wrote his qualifying examinations and secured admission into the polytechnic, where he successfully completed his Ordinary National Diploma. That was the end of the beautiful story, though; as Gideon plunged back into his mental illness three years after the first diagnosis.
What is schizophrenia?
Mental health specialists define schizophrenia as a chronic brain disorder that affects 1.1 per cent of the world’s population. Speaking at this year’s World Mental Health Day organised by the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Dapo Adegbaju, says globally, one out of 100 people suffer from this disorder; while in Nigeria, no less than 1.7 million people have schizophrenia.
Adegbaju warns that men and women are at equal risk of developing the disorder. Experts say that “men diagnosed with schizophrenia usually start to show symptoms between their late teens and early 20s; while women usually develop symptoms during their mid-20s to early 30s.”
Schizophrenia may be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that causes messages in the brain to get mixed up. And, like many other conditions, it may result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, the psychiatrist says.
As told by his uncle, a young man, Gideon, suddenly became mentally ill when he was about 18. The general practitioner who first attended to him advised his relations to let him see a psychiatrist and he was taken to the psychiatric hospital. The psychiatrist later diagnosed his illness as schizophrenia.
They were hearing the term for the first time, and because of the difficulty to also correctly pronounce it, Gideon’s relations concluded that it was over for their young son. But the psychiatrist assured them that the case was treatable. And truly, after months of medications and counselling, Gideon bounced back to life.He wrote his qualifying examinations and secured admission into the polytechnic, where he successfully completed his Ordinary National Diploma. That was the end of the beautiful story, though; as Gideon plunged back into his mental illness three years after the first diagnosis.
What is schizophrenia?
Mental health specialists define schizophrenia as a chronic brain disorder that affects 1.1 per cent of the world’s population. Speaking at this year’s World Mental Health Day organised by the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Dapo Adegbaju, says globally, one out of 100 people suffer from this disorder; while in Nigeria, no less than 1.7 million people have schizophrenia.
Adegbaju warns that men and women are at equal risk of developing the disorder. Experts say that “men diagnosed with schizophrenia usually start to show symptoms between their late teens and early 20s; while women usually develop symptoms during their mid-20s to early 30s.”
Schizophrenia may be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that causes messages in the brain to get mixed up. And, like many other conditions, it may result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, the psychiatrist says.
