By Osarennoma Ogbeide
It could be said that we all have a ‘’mad’’ phase in life also known as mid-life crisis. The fact that we don’t tear our clothes and eat garbage doesn’t mean were any different from those who can’t properly handle their crisis. Have you even wondered how there are some pregnant “mad women?”
Now I’m left to wonder who the mad person really is, the woman who has schizophrenia as a hereditary trait or the supposedly sane man who slept with her all for his perverted cravings or maybe a ritual. He goes out the next day dressed in a suit and tie, hoping it will cover his actions. Truth is you don’t have to be on the street with tattered clothes for you to be diagnosed with mental illness.
As a society, how do we view the mentally ill? What is our perspective towards them? When I explain that most people we term “mad” on the road are either psychotics or have schizophrenia, there are hisses and sighs and sometimes the ‘you’ve come again with your psychology.’ Look, but that is the plain truth.
Not all of these things are the results of your village people. Mental illnesses are sometimes hereditary, or could be as a result of negative-coping skill like taking drugs. The causes are not far-fetched. If we pretend or ignore the reality of these things, it doesn’t take away its existence. Again, guard your heart, guard your mind because that is where it all starts. Mid-life crisis, bullying, heartbreak or whatever, if at any point you feel your mind is toxic, seek help.
No, you’re not crazy and you won’t always end up in a mental institution. Sometimes you need talking therapy, sometimes you need cognitive realignment and sometimes you need behavioural adjustments, it is not a taboo to seek help. The same society that makes it seem abominable to see a psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist is the same society that will isolate you when things escalate beyond control.
Seeing that society has gone a long way in defining how some things are perceived, how about we change the modus operandi. Stop taking advantage of people who can’t help themselves, be the encouragement your neighbor needs, don’t be quick to judge and don’t wish for the life of another because you have no idea where the shoe pinches or what goes on in the background.
Let’s remember that a simple definition of health is the state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness or malfunction. So if you can speak to a doctor about that headache or that stomach flu, then you can definitely talk to a psychologist about your emotions, fears and mind too.
