Dr Olusola Olowookere, a consultant psychiatrist and Vice President Employee Assistance Professionals Association of Nigeria, has urged the Federal Government to be proactive and develop new strategies to tackle insecurity in the country.
Olowookere gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the side line of the second edition of Reposé on Thursday night in Lagos.
Repose is an annual event organised by GreyInsights to discuss mental and emotional well-being issues in an informal setting to encourage people to start and engage with conversation around mental health.
He noted that the level of insecurity in the country was alarming and posing a threat to the well-being of Nigerians.
According to him, the situation could trigger depression among Nigerians if not addressed.
He advised people against attributing stress to depression stressing the need for proper diagnosis for various mental health issues.
“There are a lot of triggers around us, the day to day insecurity, economic status, no water, no light, create a lot of worry for people when they don’t know where the next meal is coming from.
“And if this continues without any sign of changing, then it can lead people to depression,” the consultant said.
Olowookere who is also the Chief Executive Officer of GreyInsights Ltd., noted that the continuous downward plunge in the country’s economy could also trigger mental health issues such as depression.
He said depression which is under-diagnosed is a term that is used loosely by Nigerians stressing that it needs to be diagnosed by a clinician.
Olowookere said that GreyInsights recently opened its in-patient facility – Greyhub Therapeutic Centre – to provide robust in-patient and out-patient therapeutic interventions in keeping with global best practices.
“Depression is when someone has low mood persistently for two weeks with associated symptoms such as feeling worthless, lack of appetite, poor sleep and feeling hopeless.
“Before you have that diagnosis, you have to run some tests to clarify that physically the person is fine, you have to run blood and urine tests to rule out infection,” he said.
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According to him, mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how we think, feel and act.
Speaking on how corporate organisations could help build a healthy work space to boost productivity, he stressed the need for a good working environment for employees.
According to him, when an employee’s mental health well-being is stable, they will be able to give a lot more.
He said: “Due to changes in the economy, challenges of the workplace are demanding, companies want to get return on the salaries they are paying, which puts a lot of pressure on the employees.
He said his company has a programme called Employee Assistant Programme (EAP), which it offers to independent employees in the corporates to come and talk about their emotions, proper work-life balance and therapy.
Olowookere said that the EAP services had helped companies to get value for their money in terms of return on investment.
He added that the team of professionals are always willing to listen to employee’s talk urging people to call the organisation’s toll free line on mental health issues.
According to him, the fact that there is a misconception that everything is medication discourages people to open up and seek for help.
GreyInsights is an organisation that enables private individuals to call the confidential and compassionate care line 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
(NAN)
