Psychiatrists have stressed the need for research into the alarming rate of mental disorders in Nigeria even as they worry that dearth of experts is negatively affecting medical needs of Nigerians with mental disorders. The Medical Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba Lagos, Dr Oluwayemisi Ogun, hinted that the hospital is researching into the spate of drug abuse and other mental health disorders in the country.

 

Ogun who spoke during the Hospital’s Research conference titled, “Emerging Trends and Innovations In The Management of Psychiatric Disorders: Challenges and Prospects In a Developing Country,” said the tripod of clinical services, training and research was essential. She said it was through research they were able to discover the alarming rate of Nigerians with drug abuse-related mental disorders. Noting that Nigerians are yet to recognise the hospital for these three responsibilities, he said there is a need to begin to prevent these problems through quality research and the alarming rate reduced.

 

Ogunwho stated that studies have shown a link between research and quality of patient’s care noted that the institution grants a token for research every year to different research groups within the hospital in a bid to facilitate research work. The research workshop was the second in series to review the progress in research and assess the impact on services. On his part, the keynote speaker, Dr. Gbenga Okulate lamented  shortage of psychiatrists and mental health workers in Nigeria and said the doctor to patient ratio was too low. Nigeria remains under-researched and a lot of mental health conditions are not recognised, inadequately researched or  regarded as a priority, hence they are poorly funded. “A lot of people are suffering from mental health issues.  

 

We have challenges of poor identification, late recognition and therefore, limited funding. The result of it is that a lot of people who have mental issues suffer on their own, people don’t understand they are not feeling well,” the expert said. Okulate explained that the aim of the conference was to train people on conducting basic research and reporting products of their research so that the results can influence clinical practices and policies at all levels. “We can train people to do research. The psychiatrist nurses, social workers could be trained as long as they can work in teams and it will be easier to do more with limited resources.” He said, despite the poor recognition of mental disorders the hospital has recorded an increase in the presentation of mental health cases.