I’m sure you’ve seen seizures on TV before. If it was on Nigerian TV or home videos, I have a pretty good idea of what you might have seen: someone suddenly fell down, then started to shake and jerk uncontrollably, their eyes rolled back…and then it happens — it always happens on Nigerian TV and film seizures — the …
Continue reading “Epilepsy & seizures: what they are & what you need to know”
This post was originally published on Bella Naija. May 10 was Mother’s day, and May 11-17 is Mental Health Awareness Week 2015. So in honour of both, I’ll be talking today about a major mental health issue that affects mothers: “baby blues” and post-pregnancy depression. “Hey honey, did you sleep?” Iyabo stared back at her husband. “Oh, darling.” He came over …
Continue reading “Post Pregnancy Depression – A New Mother’s Unwanted Visitor”
I did a series of tweets in honour of Mothers Day, addressing common mental health issues that new mothers face, but which often go unrecognised by both the mothers, their doctors and those who love them: baby blues and post-pregnancy depression. (And a mention of post-pregnancy psychosis.) Enjoy! [View the story ““Baby blues” & post-pregnancy depression” on Storify]
Last week I shared the TALE OF TAMEDO: the story of a man on the streets. If you missed that episode, or you’d like to see it again in one piece, you can find it here. Today I’ll be shining the light on another often misunderstood aspect of mental illness. Enjoy. Most Nigerians are familiar with stories …
As a psychiatrist, one of the commonest things I find (besides people wondering why I chose psychiatry) is that a lot of people often think mental illness is “out there.” Something that happens to white people. Or rich people. Or people with nothing better to do. Or people who abuse hard drugs. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. …
Continue reading “The tale of Tamedo: an inside look at a streetperson with mental illness”
I spoke about bipolar disorder in my Bella Naija article of a couple weeks ago, and I want to go into more detail here. I’ve noticed a common fundamental mistake when people talk about bipolar disorder (or just “bipolar”). I took it on in the BellaNaija article, but I’m not sure I captured it as clearly as I intended. So here’s …
Continue reading “Understanding the two sides of bipolar disorder”
October 10 every year is World Mental Health Day, and the theme for this year is Living With Schizophrenia. In commemoration of the theme, I will be talking about schizophrenia in this post, and in the follow-up posts. Olujimi wasn’t sure when it started, but he knew for sure by the middle of March that something …
Continue reading “Schizophrenia: The mental disorder people call “madness””
Grandma is aged 74 and a widow, five years now, and she lives with a domestic help in a Lagos suburb, although one or another of her three children drop by once every other week or so, usually with the grandkids (her first child is married). As everyone knows, grannies make the best parents, so …