By Savithri Rodrigo
Lilongwe (Commonwealth Union)_Natural disasters, the pandemic, poverty, lack of employment and even age-old conventions are stifling the young people of Malawi, driving them into deep depths of despair, depression and suicide. A lack of mental health services and mental health practitioners including psychiatrists have exacerbated the problem. Add the fear of being stigmatized due to the deep-rooted culture of lack of understanding of mental health issues have placed the youth of Malawi on a never-ending carousel of despair.
Culturally, Malawians are brought up to stifle their emotions and this being an inherent trait means that mental health problems are not taken seriously. The country itself has limited youth-friendly mental health services and even for the institutions available, visits by young people are few and far between, primarily as they face the ordeal of being labeled as ‘mad’.
This vicious cycle of poverty and mental health problems young people are mired in has seen a dramatic rise in cases in the last two years with alcohol and substance abuse increasing rapidly. St. John of God Community Services which provides mental health services for young people has seen a jump of almost 100 per cent in its rehabilitation programme. Mentor to Mentor, an organization giving assistance to young girls had an increase from four to fifteen per week during the pandemic but once school began saw the rise in numbers continuing.
This highlights one positive however – that young people are seeking help when they fail to cope with psychosocial issues.
iMind, established in 2018 to support those between the ages of 10 to 30, works on campaigns for greater awareness of mental health. It launched Fresh Minds in 2020, a radio show that covers a gamut of mental health issues including depression, substance abuse and eating disorders, increasingly common issues among youth. Over 35,000, most of them under thirty, listen in. With the awareness created, some young people have become advocates for mental health, reaching out to those with mental health issues and engaging with them.
Psychology professor at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences Chiwoza Bandawe explains that in Malawi, mental health problems are treated as part of life with parents and older generations not taking mental health issues seriously, as their own upbringing prompts a tendency to sweep it under the carpet. “But with social media, young people are very attuned to mental health issues and so, parents have to be educated. If mental health problems are not treated, it reaches a particular point where people give up and feel there is no hope.”
Malawi is home to twenty million people and has only one public mental health facility with just one psychiatrist, which points to a vital fact: Malawi needs psychologists and mental health workers if it is to abate the rising tide of young people failing to cope with mental health issues and losing that battle.
