By Samuel Luka
A Senior Registrar in Psychiatry at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, Dr. Yakub Fauwaz Farouq, has warned that childhood experiences such as bullying, child abuse, neglect and parental separation are major risk factors for mental illness in adulthood.
Dr. Farouq gave the warning on Saturday in Bauchi at an event to commemorate World Mental Health Day, organised by PLAN International in collaboration with the Bauchi State Government and funded by Global Affairs Canada.
He said mental illness does not occur out of the blue, but is driven by modifiable and non-modifiable factors.
"The non-modifiable factors are those you cannot change, such as genetic problems and family history. It is in the gene and follows from family to family," he said.
"Studies have shown that mental illness can start as early as three, five, seven years and during adolescent age. Bullying, child neglect, child abuse, rape, emotional and physical abuse all influence the development of mental illness later in life."
According to him, parental disharmony, parental separation, poverty, hunger and lack of basic social amenities also predispose children to mental health challenges later in life.
"When parents separate, children are taken to someone else to care for them. In many cases they encounter abuse. That maltreatment affects their self-esteem and when they grow up, they may end up developing mental illness," he explained.
He said preventing these modifiable factors is a major step toward protecting the mental health of the population.
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