Travel contest #10: The Trip That Changed Me

_Pixabay

Traveling to Kano State Rehabilitation Center in Dorayi is the kind of experience that changed my life completely in a different way. People used to attribute juju (witchcraft or spiritual attack) as the causes of mental disorders. This kind of belief is common in Africa; although spiritual attack is real, I see things entirely differently. This agency is my place of primary assignment, posted by the National Youth Service Corps, where different types of mental disorders have been treated with care.

Most of the things we are taught in schools are found in their facility, which changed my view that many of the mental disorder patients seen in the streets are not necessarily attacked by witchcraft. Some of them can be caused by depression, anxiety, or stress.

If this mental disorder occurs within someone, they would firstly consult a traditional healer or religious leader instead of the family visiting a qualified psychiatrist for quality therapy.

The agency that I was posted to really tries its best where drugs and injections are available for the treatment of these disorders. Hardly in the state will you see those with mental illness on the street. Through injections and drugs given to them, some of them respond to treatment, and they are discharged to meet their families. These people need our attention and care; we should not stigmatize them because most of them are neglected, which many blame on them.

I invite

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