Someone asked on Twitter, ‘’Mad people know say dem dey mad?’’. There were many funny comments on that thread.
Persons with mental illnesses do not recognize that they are ill . It’s called impaired insight in psychiatry.
They don’t feel the voice they hear is unreal, they don’t know that their behavior is abnormal.
When insight is improving, then,it might be that they are getting better.
I understand that each time there is a quarrel between two people in Nigeria, there’s someone who is always claiming to be madder than the other person. Especially my Yoruba brethren, you’ll hear them say;
‘’E so fun ni, mo ya were gan, mo si win gan’’
‘’Mi o gbadun rara, on gba lori mi ni’’.
My South South people will scream running with a bottle , ‘’I dey craze o, I get craze for head,no try me’’ . ‘’My nuts no tight o’’.
Na lie. Dem no craze. Na threat.
Sometimes , they are just looking for excuses to start a fight or feel like a man of war.
Oga Ade ,you well, nothing do you. You are just troublesome. Iwa e ni o da.
There is one characteristic that is shared by many psychiatric disorders: impaired insight.
People with psychiatric illnesses often have a diminished ability to understand the nature of their illnesses or, in some cases, to understand that they are ill at all. This is exactly what makes treatment and compliance challenging at times.
If you have malaria, you are aware that you are feverish and sick , you may start seeking for help to get well as quickly as possible by going to the hospital or taking agbo jedi jedi as your spirit leads you. Some may scabosh while drinking some amount of anointing oil.
That’s how much you want to get well.
By contrast, persons with psychiatric illnesses often don’t recognize that anything is wrong. They don’t think they need help, or they believe there is nothing that can help them;
A person with schizophrenia experiencing hallucinations such as hearing voices, seeing what others are not seeing may not be able to understand that the voices aren’t real .
A person picking papers and junks on the floor doesn’t recognize that it’s not okay to do so. They might even see papers as money.
A person with depression may not be able to understand why others don’t realize that he is a terrible person, a complete failure, and a burden to all around him.
A person with drug addiction and alcoholism may also feel that doing drug is nothing and that they can quit whenever they want.
This is why it’s important to help the mentally challenged around us and seek for help as soon as you feel the need to, because they will never know or even accept that they are ill.
A person that keep talking to herself all the(hallucinations) ,a person who is always suspicious,that other people want to hurt them (paranoid) , a person who always over react and is aggressive,obsessive behaviors coupled with insomnia (sleeplessness).
A person who is always feeling sad and worthless, always thinking of killing themselves..... They all need help.
Giveaway no dey cure person with severe depression. Let them talk to a therapist.
Early detection is important to get necessary intervention.
#NurseOnDuty Kikelomo Sowore
COMMENTS