Life in Chains: The Plight of Somalia's Mentally Ill

[Safferz]

[Wadani]

Saffz, I haven't watched this doc yet, but how receptive do you think Somalis are to psychological interventions? I get the feeling that they believe therapy based on psychological methods to either be a pseudoscience or even worse a 'gaalo' field/treatment.

[SomaliPhilosopher]

I recall reading a report a while back that stated about "1 in 3 Somalis (in Mogadishu at least)" suffer from a mental illness... Looking back at my trips in the scope of that report, either I was in the 'right' circles in Mogadishu, I got to know people superficially, or that report was greatly exaggerated. While I began to write this little commentary, I was sold on answer #3- exaggeration. Perhaps its a blend of all three...

 

Anyways Wadani, or should I say Sigmund, from my experience Somalis are very doubtful of psychological intervention. I would say your assumptions are more or less accurate. Though Somalis, at this point in our civilization, are skeptical of a lot of things that may be deemed 'beneficial', which is why we are in urgent need of 'social engineering'. Perhaps once these engineers come and do there job, there will be a job for you Freud. I know Khat is not cocaine, but it is certainly close!

[Safferz]

Wadani;981153 wrote:

Saffz, I haven't watched this doc yet, but how receptive do you think Somalis are to psychological interventions? I get the feeling that they believe therapy based on psychological methods to either be a pseudoscience or even worse a 'gaalo' field/treatment.

I really don't know, Somalis are not hostile to Western medicine and treatment overall, it just seems that our folks don't take mental illness seriously and don't see mental health as something that needs real treatment. The documentary shows the prevalence of mental health issues back home (UN says as many as 1 in 3 Somalis has a mental illness), but doesn't go much into the barriers facing the mentally ill.

[Wadani]

SomaliPhilosopher;981154 wrote:

 

Anyways Wadani, or should I say Sigmund, from my experience Somalis are very doubtful of psychological intervention. I would say your assumptions are more or less accurate. Though Somalis, at this point in our civilization, are skeptical of a lot of things that may be deemed 'beneficial', which is why we are in urgent need of 'social engineering'. Perhaps once these engineers come and do there job, there will be a job for you Freud. I know Khat is not cocaine, but it is certainly close!

And here lies the predicament for those of us who are passionate about the field, and would consider taking it to a graduate level of study. It would be a terrible feeling to return home with the hope of doing your part and having ur knowledge scoffed at by the very people u came to help.

[Wadani]

Safferz;981155 wrote:

I really don't know, Somalis are not hostile to Western medicine and treatment overall,

it just seems that our folks don't take mental illness seriously

and don't see mental health as something that needs real treatment. The documentary shows the prevalence of mental health issues back home (UN says as many as 1 in 3 Somalis has a mental illness), but doesn't go much into the barriers facing the mentally ill.

I think it's the opposite actually. They it take soo seriously that they go into denial when one of their family members is afflicted with a mental illness, and they'll give silly rationalizations to friends and neighbours like 'he's/she's been staying up too late, he/she just needs more sleep' or 'there's a jinn in him/her'...etc. Anything to avoid the stigma of mental illness, which in their eyes seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist would be part and parcel of. That's my theory anyways.

[Safferz]

SomaliPhilosopher;981154 wrote:

I recall reading a report a while back that stated about "1 in 3 Somalis (in Mogadishu at least)" suffer from a mental illness... Looking back at my trips in the scope of that report, either I was in the 'right' circles in Mogadishu, I got to know people superficially, or that report was greatly exaggerated. While I began to write this little commentary, I was sold on answer #3- exaggeration. Perhaps its a blend of all three...

It's not always easy to identify mental illness though, and culturally we keep the truly unhinged tied up somewhere and out of sight. I'd imagine for many Somalis it may be something like depression or PTSD, which is more difficult to see. And there are also people who have manic episodes but otherwise appear to be fine, I met a number of people back home who seem normal to me but I later learned have "gone crazy" in the past. I had a man like this come to visit me quite a few times this summer (he spoke English and wanted to talk to me), and no one thought anything of leaving me alone in my room with a known insane person I found out he "used to be crazy" later.

[Safferz]

Wadani;981157 wrote:

I think it's the opposite actually. They it take soo seriously that they go into denial when one of their family members is afflicted with a mental illness, and they'll give silly rationalizations to friends and neighbours like 'he's/she's been staying up too late, he/she just needs more sleep' or 'there's a jinn in him/her'...etc. Anything to avoid the stigma of mental illness, which in their eyes seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist would be part and parcel of. That's my theory anyways.

That's what I consider not taking mental illness seriously lol, so we're not in disagreement.

[Wadani]

Agree to both your posts above.

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Wadani;981156 wrote:

And here lies the predicament for those us who are passionate about the field, and would consider taking it to a graduate level of study. It would be a terrible feeling to return home with the hope of doing your part and having ur knowledge scoffed at by the very people u came to help.

With the likes of Asha Haji Elmi and the Somali FG, an engineering of sorts have taken place on the topic of rape. There may be a door open for counselling in this capacity. On another note, camel milk has been shown to provide children with autism significant improvements. Perhaps an autism camp for the diaspora inflicted youth somewhere in the miyiga may be viable. Or perhaps Somalia may provide unique insights on psychological research reaping fruits for you in a career in academia. There are many options, you just have be crafty about it..

 

Random note: I hear K'naan is working on a film about a psychiatric ward in xamar that goes neglected through the break of civil war. In turn, one of the patients becomes the head psychiatrist and becomes the head of the ward... true story apparently.

[Alpha Blondy]

Jamal Osman, Somali journalist extraordinaire and ''film-maker'' really ought to be ashamed of this latest trick to pull the wool over ours eyes. this man has lost all credibility. he's clearly desperate and it shows. it's a shame he ridicules the mentally insane, in his wet-behind-the-ears ''Tintinian'' attempts to leave no stone unturned, to appear as a ''credible'' journalist.

 

really, he has two options.....

 

1. if he's reporting from Somaliland then he should avoid subsuming SL under this ''Somalia'' label. he ought to make it clear he's reporting from SL. but that he uses such misleading guises shows his amateurish ways. kulaaha.....1/3 of people have mental illness. caajib.

 

2. we all know this man is unable to travel to Somalia, where people are more prone to such mental conditions....... because of 23 years of enduring the effects of state collapse. if he's unable to travel to Somalia because of his foul-mouthed tirades against Somalia's journalists then he shouldn't present SL as Somalia to the ignorant viewers that take his ''pop'' sort of journalism serious.

 

i follow this guy on twitter and y'all should see the amount of praises he receives.

[Safferz]

Alpha, don't politicize this with SL/Somalia BS, there's no SL exceptionalism for mental health issues affecting Somalis and we both know places like Hargeisa have seen much more violence and warfare in the last generation than many cities in the south.

 

But I'll admit I loled at "Tintinian"

[Maqane]

Thanks safferz for sharing, there are so many untold stories there. Hope change will come someday but somebody has to do something!

Thanks to Jamal for this report

 

 

@Alpha,inaar, you've one bad spirit that needs to be forced out.

[Alpha Blondy]

Safferz;981163 wrote:

Alpha, don't politicize this with SL/Somalia BS, there's no SL exceptionalism for mental health issues affecting Somalis and we both know places like Hargeisa have seen much more violence and warfare in the last generation than many cities in the south.

 

But I'll admit I loled at "Tintinian"

inabti,

 

you're missing the point. are you on crack, horta?

 

clearly, it's quite obvious you seem to think i'm politically point scoring. i made a valid point re Jamal's distortion. let's concentrate on the issue please.

[ElPunto]

Usually Somalis keep their mentally ill with them in their houses. They may not know how to care for them properly and lack community support to tackle this issue. Not sure about this 'in chains' business. And the one in three - BS.