Did you expect that in Africa they would chain mentally ill people and leave them to die? I was unaware that this is occurring, and it shocks me to know that these people could be dying from other people because they had a mental disease, something that they don't have control over. Sometimes, a family member is chained to a tree, left to die. Also, in some places it is believed that evil spirits cause mental illnesses, and families pay a very expensive price just to have the person clawed and bitten… by a hyena, since they believe that will force the evil spirit out. Yes, people have died through that.
Dr. Hab is seeking for a solution to the problem. However, he isn’t a real psychiatrist, but he is a nurse with 3 months of specialist training at the World Health Organization. Hab is trying to encourage using scientific methods in curing mental diseases. He decided he would open up the first mental hospital of Somalia, a place with a rather severe problem of mental health. They have treated over 15,000 patients now. That means things are going well, right? Well, not exactly. Hab is facing a seemingly insurmountable problem. According to the World Health Organization, they estimate about 1 in 3 Somalis is/was affected by mental illnesses. Also, a herbal stimulant called khat also causes big barriers for Hab. The side effects can be nervousness or psychosis. Sometimes when the patients leave, they start begin to use the khat again, resulting in more problems. Hab says he sometimes sees the same patients seven to eight times. Think about how much people are there!
The World Health Organization has funded a “Chain Free Initiative”, in trying to stop the usage of chains in hospitals but Hab has admitted that he used chains on his most aggressive patients, which was a bit upsetting, considering they had been saved from chains. Hab had also concluded the only option was chaining them to their beds when some escapees had been shot from not following orders at a military checkpoint. He continues to try to solve this problem, seemingly all by himself.
Notice how these events are common in Africa. It seems like mentally ill people are almost helpless, with expensive products like medicine for treatment while many in Africa would probably have to scrape up all their money for this. What can they do? At first when I thought of this, I thought it was horrible to do this, but now, I sometimes feel bad for the families, considering the amount of money needed to treat people.
I think that mentally ill people should be treated the best way possible in hospitals. It seems like Hab is chaining patients to beds for their own safety, but I do believe we should still give them as much freedom as possible. In some cases it might be necessary in the cause to prevent something bad from happening, but generally people with mental illness are not violent. In fact, individuals with mental illnesses are victimized more than they do the same things themselves. On the positive side, the patients are definitely better off in the hospital with treatment than being clawed at a hyena or helpless and chained. It is concerning that Hab seems to be trying to solve this problem by himself. I feel like more people need to start stepping up to end this cruel treatment to the unlucky people with mental illnesses. What would you do in this situation, and if you were in a situation like one of the African families are (with a mentally ill person) what would you do to help that person?
Wow! There are a lot of problems in Africa. Pretty soon it will be like mad max! I think it is so sad that they are getting treated badly. Did you know, that in a church in Africa, 150 men and women were chained up at the same time just because they were mentally ill? If I were in this situation, I don't know what I'd do. I'd at least try to rally people to let them go. I would try to show the world the cruel treatment and try to get people to help stop it.
ReplyDeleteOh my god that is horrible. I mean, why would they let someone get clawed by a hyena due to "evil spirit?" This reminds me of what people used to do in the olden days when someone got sick. They would take their blood or hire a person to do some weird song to get rid of the evil spirits. Yeah. Actually the topic of people with mental illness has been kind of a sore subject to me. It's just that I don't know what to think. But one thing is for sure... THEY SHOULDN'T BE CLAWED BY HYENAS. The thing is I feel like most Americans treat people with mental illness well. They are given an opportunity to be with everyone else. I once went to a choir concert and there was a person with special needs there. She was in the choir and you could hear her voice interrupting the rest every now and then. At that moment I kind of felt like...She shouldn't be here. I mean, she is ruining the song for the rest of the choir. They worked hard on the songs and she is now interrupting them. Why are people with mental illness even given an opportunity? It's almost impossible for them to get well again and they will almost be useless for the rest of their lives no matter how hard you try. That's how I sometimes feel but I know that's not exactly true. Sometimes miracles do happen and even if they don't, people with mental illness will still be better off with a good education then if they were chained to death. If I had a person in my family that was mentally ill, I'll probably be in trouble. I'll probably protect that person but also wonder if she will ever be better. Sometimes I might get mad and wonder why she/he had to be born that way. By the way, special needs and mental illness means the same thing right?
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