GWERU - The political and economic stress and depression that characterized Zimbabwe over the past few years are the major causes of an increased number of people suffering from mental disorders, an official has said.The Midlands Governor and Resident Minister, Jaison Machaya, told a gathering at the World Mental Health Day commemorations, held here last week, that if the difficult political and economic circumstances persisted, incidents of mental illness would remain high.
There was a time not in the distant past when almost everyone was just on the verge of mental illness. Companies have retrenched a lot of employees and they continue to do so, children are failing to raise money for examinations and this is causing a lot of stress and mental turmoil, he said.
Machaya said a considerable percentage of the cases of mental illness were associated with traditional practices.
When political leaders and economists are working towards improving the political and economic situation, the traditional leaders should be working on reconciling people at war in their areas.
Post published in: Analysis