My dad, Chief Joshua Oludayo Adeoba Adewumi an alumnus of the prestigious University of Lagos. A highly cerebral individual with impeccable oratory ability. He is well-read, and I am yet to meet someone like him who understands and teaches geography in a way, anyone can easily understand. An experienced teacher and retired principal.

As educated and versatile as he was, I thought telling him I was going to specialize as a mental health nurse will be a walk in the park, but it was a thug of war. We went back and forth. He tried to change my mind, I tried to convince him.

His main reason; according to him there was a man in our hometown who was known for breeding snakes. He had been rearing those snakes for a long time and one would have thought they can no longer harm him. However, according to him one day this man was bitten by one of the snakes, and that eventually led to his death. I found the story hilarious but to him, it wasn’t. He equated being a mental health nurse to being a snake rarer. He believed anyone taking care of those who are mentally ill will eventually be killed by his/her patients.

I painted a picture of his background because there are so many people like him. Despite the vast knowledge available on and off the internet in this generation, many people are still ignorant about one of the most important aspect of their existence; mental health. Many people still see mental illness as mystical and an affliction from village people or retribution for a sin committed and so on.

So many myths and misconceptions still surround mental illness and mental health in Nigeria and I think Africa as a whole. People who are faced with the challenge are therefore stigmatized a lot.

This makes it difficult for people to seek help in appropriate places.

Myths and misconceptions about mental health has torn so many families apart, render many jobless, and destroyed so many beautiful destinies.

Thanks but no, thanks to Nollywood. I can’t stop being annoyed anytime they make a movie about mental illness. They have continually polluted people’s minds. Their movies always validate the wrong notion people already have about mental illness. Their messages unfortunately stick more than what any health professional can tell them.

This misinformation is the reason spiritual houses are usually the first point of call for individuals and members of their families. This act does not exclude the learned, wealthy and influential people including those who are living outside the shores of Nigeria.

The message is always one ignorant personality acting as a doctor calling relatives aside to say “baba wà, oró yí kí sé ójú lasan, e jé kà fi ése ilé toó” meaning ( this issue is beyond medical science, let’s use traditional methods to address it).

For this reason, I have decided to write an ebook that addresses myths and misconceptions about mental illness. I will bring my experience to bare, but I’m writing it for people to read.

So I ask, what have you always wanted to know about mental health and mental illness?

Ask in the comment section. I will answer it in the book. Together we will choose a topic for it as well and it will be free. Just watch this space.

Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times” Isaiah 33:6