Reading the article on mental disorder in Gambian is
very distressing to read as a Gambian. I do acknowlege
that mental illness has always exsisted in our
community. I however disagree with methods that the PN
has seemingly based his figures on. Saying that such
people talk to themselves whilst others are afflicted
with forgetfulness and mispacing things is in my
opinoin a bit extreme.  This does not necessarily
constitue mental illness.
Mental illness is a broad spectrum ranging from simple
depression to clinical depression and in more exteme
cases, schizophrenia. Based on my 3 year experiance of
working in metal health and mainly schizophrenics, i
have never experienced anyone being diagnosed with
mental illness on the simple fact basis that they
'talk to themselves' or are forgetful. The diagnoses i
have witnessed have been based on more complex issues.


I do agree with the nurse that use of illicit
substances can contribute to drug induced psychosis
which can be either temporary or permanent depending
on the kind of treatment one receives be it medical or
cultural. Both  these areas  are in dire need of
improvement in our commnity at present.

 I agree with sonko's observation on the culture of
silence and ostricisation from society experienced by
sufferes of mental illness. What i believe is further
lacking in our society on this issue is lack of
awareness on the nature of mental illness.

Even though i do not agree with everything in the
article, i am pleased that the problems of mental
illness are finally being addressed openly. However,
after  reading various reactions to the article, i am
left with a very uneasy feeling that mental illness is
still obviously regarded as something to be ashamed
of. Does it really matter whether it is 60% or 2%?
Surely what matters is that the problem exsist and
will be on the increase for as long as the problems of
illicit drugs and other social problems exsist. It is
worth noting also that mental illness is in some cases
can be genetic especially for shizophrenia.

What we ought to be racting to hence, is h do we as a
community  deal with this very REAL problem NOT
figures and numbers.

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