Three out of every 10 Nigerians are at risk of depression according to ‘The Nigeria National Depression report,’ produced by Joy, Inc. in partnership with NOIPolls.
The report released to commemorate the World Mental Health Day also noted that “mental illness explains more of the misery in the society more than physical illness, poverty or unemployment.”
According to the report, 31.6% of polled respondent reported experiencing depressive symptoms while 27.8% of respondents reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety.
It also disclosed that most of the people surveyed defined happiness “as having the basic needs of life,” while the second largest group of respondents defined happiness “as having peace of mind,” noting that “mental and emotional health are the single biggest predictors of individual happiness.
The survey which equally focused on measuring public perception of Nigerians regarding their happiness and experiences with some factors that may affect their state of happiness and depression, also found that “Several Nigerians believed that they are averagely satisfied (4.99) with their life as a whole these days, and are hopeful that they will be better satisfied in life five years from now,” while “most Nigerians also felt they were better five years ago (standing at 6.41) than they are currently.”
According to the report, therefore, “Nigeria needs to be proactive in taking mental and emotional health seriously by reviewing the national mental health policy and creating a viable legislative framework to meet global standards, investing in public education to influence the culture to one that promotes resilience and creates safe spaces for emotional and mental healing, and investing in research, innovation and development.”
Speaking on the result of the survey, one of the authors of the report, Damola Morenikeji, a research associate at Joy, Inc., said “Human misery is real, the goal of every intervention should be to reduce misery while increasing the happiness of people. Investing in citizens’ happiness and well-being should not be a luxury, but a necessity. Only when people are sustainably happy can they truly flourish, innovate, and make the world a better place.
“The collective roles of governments, businesses, and other stakeholders have to transcend from creating an environment purely for wealth creation to creating environments that facilitate the genuine well-being and flourishing of people.”
The report contains results from a nation-wide happiness and depression survey conducted across all the 36 states in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), internal surveys from The Joy Congress, and up-to-date data on the state of the depression crisis in Nigeria.
All interviews according to the researchers were conducted by telephone, in five major Nigerian languages: English, Pidgin English, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.
Joy, Inc. according to a co author of the report and member of the Central Working Group, Glory Apantaku, aims “to provide coping tools and mechanisms and draw our attention as a citizenry to the state of our mental and emotional well-being.”
“Our results serve as an important reminder of the urgency of this work, mental health issues are real and it is high time we paid attention,” she added.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability in the world; the number of people suffering from depression and/or anxiety disorders have increased by almost 50 per cent, from 416 million in 1990 to 615 million in 2013, with chances of an annual increase.
