Borderline (Ongoing)
Nigeria is faced with a human right emergency in mental health. Discrimination and stigma against individuals with mental health challenges remain barriers to help seeking and recovery for people in need of mental health services, marked by poor societal attitudes towards mental illness coupled with inadequate facilities, resources, superstition, poor knowledge and shortage of mental health staff, study shows that 90% of individuals with mental health issues in Nigeria cannot access care.
One in four Nigerians suffer from some sort of mental illness but according to Dr. Taiwo Sheikh, president of the Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria, the country only has 250 psychiatrists to serve a population of over 200 million people, most of whom are based in urban areas, and couple with below par knowledge of mental disorders at the primary health-care level, great institutional neglect and widespread stigma and discrimination in Nigeria, caring for people with mental illness like anxiety disorder, bipolar, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, post traumatic, paranoia are typically left to family members.
The most common determinants of mental health disorders as perceived by Nigerians were supernatural causes such as possession of evil spirits, sorcery, witchcraft, and divine punishment. Due to stigma and a limited number of trained specialists, only 10% of adults with mental illness in Nigeria receive any care according to WHO. This means that people with functional mental disorder are usually unnoticed and have difficulties accessing appropriate professional help.