By Kumba Leigh
Women’s mental health is by and large an uncharted discourse despite the pervasive impact and the enormous socio-economic risks their mental ill health poses in our society. To get a thorough sense of the phenomenon, we caught up with Dr Kalilu Jagne, Residential Psychiatrist, Edward Frances Small Teaching Hospital.
He described mental health is a state of wellbeing and that it becomes a problem when one has difficulties with feelings and thoughts.
Dr Jagne acknowledged that women’s mental health is worth considering and examining “because women are very sensitive, marginalised” and that they internalise most of their problems, thereby affecting their mental health.
‘‘Pregnancy alone is very stressful, because is too demanding. It can cause mental health disorder if they are not quite supported,” he added.
Dr Jagne confirmed that anxiety, and depression, also known as the affective or internalised factors or postpartum-psychosis is not common to men; that men consume abused substance and end up having mental disorders.
The psychiatrist cited studies that indicated that post-partum-psychosis is a mental health that is common with women. He said 10% of women has depression during their pregnancy period and another 10% encounter depression after delivery, which is the post-partum period.
He recommended for thorough screening, and exclusive discussions with women in such a situation, saying it should be found out by their family members whether or not they have been bullied by their husbands. He stressed the need for any form of assistance to help offload the stress.
“Mental health issues can be better tackled at the primary level if there is mental health screening at antenatal units. This however, will help women better shoulder their children, and the care for a better youthful population in terms of vibrant mental health.”
The challenge
Women who go for antenatal care should have disorder screening or engage in some sort of a conversation to help with their mental health status. Is unfortunate that most of the health care services have to do with physical issues of the health care system; these include the blood pressure screening, sugar, urine amongst others.
Although disorder screening has not yet been encrypted in the health system, it is believed that if it is done it will help mitigate peripheral depression during pregnancy.
