Dealing with Mental Health and Suicide
This is not one of my usual posts as it borders on an issue I haven't dealt with before on the blog. So, last month there was very sad and bad news. An 18-year-old girl hanged herself in her room at her hall of residence.
One of her roommates came back from lectures and found her dead, and hanging. She left a note apologising to her parents for not being the person they expected her to be. Now, what could have caused such a young girl to hang herself? She comes from an affluent family; her dad is even a member of parliament. The media loves to speculate and so they’ve cooked over a thousand and one reasons why she must have committed suicide. Then after week, another young female student in a different university jumps from the balcony of her room in the wee hours of the morning, committing suicide! Once again, no one knows why she did it. This was followed by another suicide! There has been much speculations and theories for why these young people resort to suicide.
However, this post isn't to discuss their stories or theories. Mental health is a subject that is shredded in superstition in my country, Ghana. Much attention isn't given to it. To most people, depression isn't even an ailment nor does it exist. They feel depression is a western thing not a Ghanaian or African thing. Yet, more and more young adults and adults suffer from depression. They're mentally and emotionally tormented.
Some even hear voices and can't seek the help they need because they’re taught to believe that though it isn't normal to feel depressed, there is no treatment. The country lacks psychologists and psychiatrists who can treat people suffering from depression. Though universities and senior high schools have counsellors they are not readily accessible. I was in the university for seven years; fours for my Bachelor's degree, one year as a teaching assistant and two years for a Masters of Philosophy Degree as well as a graduate assistant but never did I hear of the university counsellors! I know they are on campus but the majority of students don't know where to find them. Who knows, if these young girls had received counselling they may not have bought into the devil's lies and taken their own lives.
It's time as a nation and a people we take mental health seriously and started finding ways to provide treatment for those who need it. We mustn’t wait until more people kill themselves before we act! The time to act is now. I must say it saddens me when I see people with dementia abandoned on our streets. These people are also humans. They need to be catered for not left on their own to live in filth on our streets.
If you’re reading this and feel that everyone will be better off without you alive, I want you to know that this isn’t true. The families of these young people are in much pain and some carry the guilt of not having been able to stop their children from taking their own lives. Things don’t get better because you’re not around, in fact, they get worse. Don’t buy into the lies of the enemy. God loves you so much. Jesus came that you’ll have life more abundantly. The devil, on the other hand, has come to steal and to kill. Don’t buy into his lies. God isn’t mad at you and the world isn’t a better place without you. Know for sure that, your life matters to God and to those around you. Don’t give up on yourself, dig in your heels and seek for help. This one too shall pass, hold on and don’t give up. I’m praying for you that the peace of God which is beyond all understanding takes over your mind and envelopes your entire life. Remember God loves you and is rooting for you.
To all those you’re not going through this, together let's make a difference and help people with depression and dementia. Let them know that there is hope, they can be cured and made whole again. Be nice and kinder to people because you never know what they are going through and how your kindness would go a long way to impact them.
God is love therefore let’s live to love as His children who have been born by His Spirit.
Have you ever gone through a period of depression and hopelessness? How did you deal with it? Are going through anything right now? Share it so we can agree with you in prayer to over it.
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