PEOPLE with mental health ailments are oftentimes stigmatised, classed poorly, and made to feel as if they don’t hold a place in society.

Dr Rochelle Allison Bailey says it is not a situation where one can tell an individual who suffers from depression or anxiety, to name a few, to just ‘snap out of it.’

“The mind is a powerful tool. The World Health Organization [WHO] estimates that 20 per cent of the Jamaican population suffers from some form of mental health issue. We all feel anxious or downtrodden from time-to-time, but only a selective few develop a mental illness,” Bailey told the Jamaica Observer.

Bailey said a mental illness is a mental health condition that gets in the way of thinking, relating to others, and day-to-day function.

“It is a physical illness of the brain that causes disturbances in thinking, behaviour, energy or emotion that makes it difficult to cope with the ordinary demands of life. The 2017 Global Burden of Disease database shows that depression and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health concerns facing the population of Jamaica. Around three per cent of Jamaicans have a depressive disorder and 4.1 per cent have an anxiety disorder,” she said.

Bailey said women are at a ‘disproportionate” risk for both disorders, as 3.7 per cent have depression, and 4.3 per cent have anxiety, compared to just 2.3 per cent of men for each disorder.

“The mind has the ability to break you or mend you, to bring you peace or to allow your thoughts to roam a million miles per hour. Sometimes we simply have no control over the thoughts that flood our minds. Oftentimes it can become so overwhelming, distressing, depressing, you reach to a point where you begin to ask ‘why me?’

“You are called psychotic, insane, mad man or mad woman; you are made to feel as if you too don’t matter all because your mind simply has a mind of its own.”

Bailey zoomed in on psychosis, explaining that it is a mental health condition that manifests as hallucinations, erratic social behaviour, and delusions – all of which may occur during psychotic episodes when an individual’s perception of reality is disrupted.

She said disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression or anxiety can cause psychosis.

“Substance abuse or general medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease can also trigger psychotic episodes. The incidence of psychosis in Jamaica has been estimated at 2.09 per 10,000 people, and psychosis and schizophrenia together account for 80 per cent of mental illness related public clinic visits nationwide,” Bailey told Your Health Your Wealth, noting that most new cases of anxiety disorders appear in Jamaicans in the 20-34 and 35-59 age groups.

“More than 18 per cent of adults each year struggle with some type of anxiety disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (panic attacks), generalised anxiety disorder and specific phobias.”

Bailey added that in Jamaica, psychosis was responsible for 106,674 visits to public health clinics for mental illness in 2016, accounting for more than 80 per cent of mental illness related public clinic visits nationwide.

“Only half of those affected receive treatment, often because of the stigma attached to mental health. Untreated, mental illness can contribute to higher medical expenses, poorer performance at school and work, fewer employment opportunities and increased risk of suicide,” she told Your Health Your Wealth.

“Studies show that stigma against mental illness is still powerful, largely due to media stereotypes and lack of education and that people tend to attach negative stigmas to mental health conditions at a far higher rate than to other diseases and disabilities, such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.”

Bailey highlighted common symptoms associated with mental illness:

• feeling down for a while

• extreme swings in mood

• withdrawing from family, friends, or activities

• low energy or problems sleeping

• often feeling angry, hostile, or violent

• feeling paranoid, hearing voices, or having hallucinations

• often thinking about death or suicide.