Dr. Edak Okwong, a neuropsychiatrist at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Calabar, has revealed that one in every five Nigerians suffers from depression, with women being twice as vulnerable.
Okwong explained the situation to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Calabar.
According to NAN, depression is a mental disease that creates a prolonged feeling of melancholy and loss of interest. It can be classed as major depressive disorder or clinical depression.
It has an impact on how a person thinks and behaves, and it can result in a number of emotional and physical difficulties.
Patients may also have difficulty performing routine daily chores and may feel that life is not worth living.
According to the neuropsychiatrist, while many experts have proposed explanations why women are more prone to depression, societal difficulties are among the key culprits.
“In Nigeria, one out of every five persons has experienced depression and women are twice more affected; scientists say it may be as a result of hormonal changes or less neuro-transmitters such as serotonin in a woman’s brain.
“However, the social issues with women are there, such as less empowerment which makes them unable to settle some needs and sink into anxiety and depression.
“There is also the issue of domestic violence in which many women are victims and have this feeling of entrapment; this powerless situation makes women depressed,” she said.
Okwong said depression has the capacity to affect a person’s sleep by making him or her unable to sleep well or sleep excessively, eat ravenously and gain weight.
She stated it hampered the patient’s attention, which in turn, affected his or her performance and most crucially, filled their brains with negative notions such as “I am useless”.
She claims that once a patient reaches a point of hopelessness, suicide becomes the next option unless someone intervenes.
The doctor noted that depression was real and a mental health disorder, but that patients should not feel stigmatized because the ailment was treatable.
NAN
