Feature #5

Mental Health in Ghana

by Nana Akosua Hanson

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), 2,816’000 people are suffering from a mental disorder in Ghana. Yet, there is hardly any talk about it in public. According to Ghanaian radio journalist Akosua Hanson this is because of a toxic social system that is based on capitalistic demands. In her essay, she reflects on how the perspective of wholesomeness in African philosophies could tackle this problem.

In my high school, we conducted a ceremony every term, where the whole school announced and celebrated the students who made it to the first six positions in their classes. The first position, meaning the position of the most intelligent in the class, was the one most likely to «succeed» when the adulting journey begins. I made it to the first six positions most times, which made my parents generally happy with my academic performance. But the anxiety and chronic depression such a system inspires followed into my adulthood. In schools, demarcations are made, children learn how to «other», and hierarchies begin to be created. In such a competitive environment, there is no place for children with ADHD or children with different creative capabilities, for instance.

The Ghanaian workplace, the stressful 8 to 5, is often a violent space where human spirits are broken every day. The workplace and how it operates is a war zone. It is based on a capitalistic system of fear, manipulation, and bullying. It takes a conscious stepping out of the tide of toxicity for one to realize that this doesn’t feel good at all. All of this has very serious social mental health consequences that we do not take responsibility for. Broken people mean a broken society. A broken society means a cycle of violence.

Social Media Non-Support

In the absence of a society with a more profound understanding of mental health, social media is where many young Ghanaian adults go to seek support; but there they get caught up in the search for validation, swept up in the general dishonesty of social media.

People generally look to religious institutions for coping mechanisms to deal with mental health issues. But in a patriarchal culture that generally has no understanding or patience for depression or anxiety, and continuously creates a general dysphoria and toxicity, this has not been a helpful system for many.

The general reaction to suicide in the community is: «Why would she do a stupid thing like that»? «He really couldn’t find anybody to talk to»? «She did it for attention». Depression is not seen as a «real» issue. Even in my small circle of friends, colleagues, family, and acquaintances, I know too many people who are very aware of the feeling of depression; how acute the persistent feeling of helplessness is when nothing brings joy anymore; when previous sources of passion-rousing no longer trigger a momentum in you; where everything is a reminder of how endless the hits of pain seem.

What Can We Do?

How does a suffering mental health look like in everyday life? It looks like missed workdays and very impatient and unhappy bosses, the difficulty to begin and sustain projects, long-term unemployment and poverty because of societal stigma, a chronic difficulty in making decisions, the inability to have a healthy and happy love life, a heartbreak, the inability to hold long-term friendships, homelessness, perpetual societal triggers into manic depression, substance abuse, a resignation to the side-effects of mental health medication, memory loss, violence perpetrated by a loved one, the many crossed lines in the murky area of treatments, medication, cultural stigma, and human rights. The crippling embarrassment that wracks you after a manic episode, an embarrassment that can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder.

So what do we do? What should we do? What can we do? For one, we can remember what African ancestral knowledge and wisdom teaches us about the multiplicity of entities and how to view our health in that multiplicity.

In African philosophy, a person is not just a physical body, but made up of a cluster of physical, quasi-physical, or non-physical entities. For instance, the quasi-physical entity of the «destiny self» is known as the «Chi» among the Igbo of Nigeria, the «Kra» among the Ashanti of Ghana, and «Kla» among the Ga of Ghana. It is believed that this cluster of physical and non-physical entities that make up a person, play specific roles in general well-being and contribute to the wholesomeness of the individual’s quality of life.

This informs an African approach to health: fully healing requires healing of the body, the mind, the spirit, and the soul. To treat body aches, for example, a traditional healer will provide both a physical cure for the body’s ailments, as well as a ritual for mental and spiritual healing. For me, this is a radical understanding of human health and an understanding that makes space for the relevance of mental health.

Mental Health Is Ignored

With the suppression of traditional African philosophy and knowledge systems, the importation of Western health knowledge systems, and the focus on building capitalist economies to survive in this quickly disintegrating Covid19 world, mental health no longer holds centrality in the conversation on Ghanaian health.

But we can apply this knowledge in our personal and communal lives. This could be as small or as personal as adopting an everyday self-care ritual that inspires grounding and emotional balance, and as communal emotional and mental healthcare tools in our mental health and psychiatric institutions, but also in our schools, workplaces, even social media spaces.

How to start? Be kinder to ourselves; be kinder to others. Appreciate the diversity of the being we come in, a diversity that is continuously evolving. An understanding of the mind is the key to understanding ourselves. It is the key to building societies with compassion. It starts with acknowledging the huge grey elephant in the room. May we find healing.