Why the 14 millions Headline is an underestimate

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉.

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It's mental health awareness month and I think it is in the same month in which a newspaper publication on 14 million Ugandans being mentally ill was made last year.

It was all fun and games as it is always, whenever we are faced with a challenging reality and I say this because I've been taking stock of how most of us - Ugandans/ Africans - cope with offensive and straining affairs of the state. Humour has been our go-to, for the most part. The memes, hashtags and jokes that follow after a state or public declaration about something utterly aggravating or something that sinks us deeper into poverty, are innumerably shared.

"14 million? Indeed, no wonder someone has organised a birthday concert" "They have died by suicide? Damn! They must have been among the 14 million".

The estimate, to most, seemed to set them right above anyone who may have made it under those statistics and I found it startling (just a little because I know where we stand, in matters of mental health) to witness how we are still dismissive or very unaware of what mental health entails.

The first time I read the headline, I checked the internet for what Uganda's population is and I learnt that by 2021, we had an estimate of about 45 million Ugandans. Would that mean that about 31 million are properly functioning? That only 31% of the Ugandans are affected by the current state of affairs? I knew this was a flawed publication but then here's a believable and acceptable twist to it. Since it was an estimate from the Ministry of Health and one that was possibly taken from the number of people who have sought professional mental health interventions, perhaps we should be worried that only 31% of Ugandans are seeking help to jump over the various hurdles the state keeps pushing our way.

Where does that leave the 69%? How are they dealing with the poor health facilities? Some government workers cannot render you a service they get a salary for unless you pass on a bribe that they now call motivation. A police officer wanted me to pay UGX. =70.000= for a police letter that is supposed to be free. The state of the roads is a perfect description of a bumpy ride - travelling on the city's roads is such a torturous bouncy castle experience that often makes me wonder what it's like to be pregnant and mobile in Uganda. Where you should have been saving a few coins for something more helpful, you're supposed to visit the garage at almost every turn, to fix your car. Do you have land? Have you set up a home? Oh worry not, a church whose unregulated noise will make you hate your home soon and you are in no right mind to think that you can seek redress for the noise pollution. Boda boda men will run you over or insult you for not giving them way on a pedestrian walkway. Everyone is freestyling in this nation like there are no laws governing it. The taxman comes up with every new kind of tax on top of the taxes you're already paying, because well, it is said that the poor are easier to rule over than those who are cashed-up and then there is you waltzing through the potholed streets of Kampala making fun of mental health because you have no single awareness that the systemic poverty affects your mental well-being.

There's a whole parliament that has been turned into a circus stage for your constituent's representative to front their personal interests. People are in parliament fighting over who should sleep with whom - nothing about the lack of proper schools for your kids or health amenities to cater for your mother's debilitating health. If you cannot afford a private clinic/ hospital, the most you can do is call family meetings or friends to fundraise or watch the body of your loved one giving up their soul.

Today I come from a place of fatigue. Exhausted by every new straining development that comes up. The environmental factor of reckless killings of people who do not agree with us keeps getting my anxiety spiralling every time I see an officer with a gun. I hate to imagine what it's like for Americans who have access to these guns. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder when I see officers with guns and I'm only at peace when they're out of sight. I don't know which way I may offend them and they choose to use a gun on me. I don't know what fantasies they have. Recently I told a friend that sometimes when I walk past a security officer, I worry that they may wonder what it's like to shoot big legs. You just don't know how one would be motivated or what would rile them into shooting anyone or everyone around them.

Our ability to manage conflict is slowly dropping to the negatives and there are people in this category, who carry guns around. When the late Sabiiti shot his boss Engola and later shot himself, I really hoped that that wouldn't be the beginning of more shootings this year. In less than a week, the motormouth blogger Olaxess was shot dead and a few days later, the Ugandan interwebs were awash with a horrific video of a police officer who shot his money lender. More have been reported to have shot themselves and here is where we start to further conversations on how mentally helpful it is for one to have commendable conflict management/resolution skills, either with oneself or with other people.

We belong to a nation or worse still, a continent with governments that could care less about our inherent rights (in fact we feel privileged that we are allowed to breathe). They're the biggest bullies we cannot face or even report to our parents. Our voices are muffled and when it comes to dealing with these bitter conversations reeling in our minds, all there is for us, is to crack jokes and assure ourselves that nothing has happened. We're forced to repress every emotion in us so that we preserve our ability to live and there is no way you can convince me that it's only the 14 million walking around with suppressed yet turbulent emotions.

We all cope with these emotions differently but unfortunately most of the coping mechanisms we run to, don't always work in our favour. Some are overpowering their livers with alcohol just because they cannot find sleep. Some are smoking to quieten the insecure voices in their heads. Some cannot find happiness in anything they do or in anyone they're with - not even themselves, so they rely on some intoxicants or drugs that would give them some sort of euphoria. Some are working so hard to erase a tormentous rape or defilement, by having reckless sex because at least the recklessness makes them feel like they're in control of their sexual decisions. We have been conditioned to be avoidant (if not enraged enough to take one's life) in the face of the slightest sign of conflict. We no longer know how to find the middle ground, we are struggling with personal relationships. The unfortunate reality is that such maladaptive coping mechanisms and the others that aren't listed, only work for a short time, thus forcing us to keep in the loop of chasing them.

We are almost coming to a close of the mental health awareness month but the work continues. So I implore you to build proactive mental health management practices. Seek professional help before it's too late. Read about adaptive coping mechanisms and use them in your day-to-day life. There are many free mental health resources on the internet. Learn more about mental health and dismiss points in the subject matter from an informed point of view not what your grandmother's neighbor said. Listen to podcasts that will make it easier for you to understand the better ways of doing life - Hash Time with Nabuguzi Kiwanuka has evergreen content that you can even draw back on 50 years later.

For the love of life!