Mental health: Strengthen social support with extended family system

Christ the King Methodist Church Ghana has called for the strengthening of the extended family system and tightening of the social support structures to help address mental health conditions in the country.

Isaac Kwame Ghartey, superintendent minister of the Anaji Estate Circuit, appealed to members of the extended family to eschew social neglect and support one another.

He made the call at a mental health awareness forum and screening exercise, organised by Christ the King Methodist Child and Youth Development Centre, a Compassion International assisted project, in the Sekondi-Takoradi cluster. It was in partnership with Empire FM and Radio 360 in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis.

The forum, dubbed: “The role of the church in mental health,” brought together experts and stakeholders in the field to elicit ways of addressing the mental health canker in the Ghanaian context.

Ghartey said the church is mandated to help in the fight against mental health, which is fast gaining grounds in society. He added that the church has a sacred duty to intensify guidance and counselling sessions to address mental health issues.

He advised the public to be content with what they have and not be anxious about what they have not achieved.

Angelina Ogyiri Asare – principal clinical health psychologist at the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority hospital in Takoradi –, who spoke on anxiety disorder, said anxiety is normal but can lead to behavioural disorder which requires psychiatric attention.

“Anxiety leads to depression, substance abuse, insomnia, headaches and chronic pain,” she said.
Asare urged patients with mental health disorders to seek treatment through psychotherapy and medication.

Joyce Yeboah – regional director, Department of Community Development at the Ghana Health Service – urged parents to observe children regularly to detect disorders and seek early treatment.

Bernard Ekow Aggrey, project director of the church, said mental health patients have rights which must be respected. He called for training of participants to become mental health clinical psychologists.

Emmanuel Mark Ackon, presiding member at the Shama district assembly, reiterated the need to revisit the extended family system to address the problem. He stressed that district assemblies must collaborate with other stakeholders to address the upsurge in mental health disorders.

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