Lagos, Dec. 5, 2014 (NAN) A Psychiatrist, Dr Emmanuel Owoyemi, said on Friday the high rate of mental disorder among Nigerians was contributing to low national productivity. Owoyemi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that Nigeria was losing billions of naira annually to mental disorder among its citizens.
According to him, when citizens are depressed and mentally unstable it will impact negatively on national productivity. “Human depression eventually will lead to economic depression and economic depression itself too can lead to human depression.” Looking at the society we are in today and looking at Nigeria as a case study, you will find out that may be years of not giving attention to one is now leading to the other.
“When a man is depressed the person will begin to lose interest in one`s pleasurable activities, the person will start withdrawing, the person will start having mood swings and weaknesses, tiredness, pains. So many things will begin to happen; and different people present depression in different ways. Most of the attitudes and characters you see outside there, sometimes, are signs of depression (and) because of all these problems productivity level will be low. When citizens of a nation become depressed and there is low productivity across the board, there will be low GDP”
Owoyemi, however, urged government at all levels to place high priority on mental health by providing funds for infrastructure as well as employment and training of personnel. According to him, a mentally stable populace reserves the tendency to be productive for national development.
