WEBVTT 00:00:01.122 --> 00:00:02.813 Last year ... 00:00:02.837 --> 00:00:04.040 was hell. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:04.064 --> 00:00:05.862 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:08.571 --> 00:00:12.123 It was my first time eating Nigerian "jollof." NOTE Paragraph 00:00:12.147 --> 00:00:13.729 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:14.616 --> 00:00:17.475 Actually, in all seriousness, 00:00:17.499 --> 00:00:20.313 I was going through a lot of personal turmoil. 00:00:21.235 --> 00:00:23.416 Faced with enormous stress, 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:25.463 I suffered an anxiety attack. 00:00:26.542 --> 00:00:29.232 On some days, I could do no work. 00:00:30.336 --> 00:00:32.232 On other days, 00:00:32.256 --> 00:00:35.545 I just wanted to lay in my bed and cry. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:36.658 --> 00:00:41.907 My doctor asked if I'd like to speak with a mental health professional 00:00:41.931 --> 00:00:44.034 about my stress and anxiety. 00:00:44.769 --> 00:00:46.071 Mental health? 00:00:46.972 --> 00:00:50.862 I clammed up and violently shook my head in protest. 00:00:53.245 --> 00:00:56.997 I felt a profound sense of a shame. 00:00:58.413 --> 00:01:01.851 I felt the weight of stigma. 00:01:03.139 --> 00:01:05.498 I have a loving, supportive family 00:01:05.522 --> 00:01:07.829 and incredibly loyal friends, 00:01:07.853 --> 00:01:12.422 yet I could not entertain the idea of speaking to anyone 00:01:12.446 --> 00:01:14.476 about my feeling of pain. 00:01:16.004 --> 00:01:20.471 I felt suffocated by the rigid architecture 00:01:20.495 --> 00:01:22.785 of our African masculinity. 00:01:23.765 --> 00:01:25.880 "People have real problems, Sangu. 00:01:25.904 --> 00:01:27.359 Get over yourself!" NOTE Paragraph 00:01:28.956 --> 00:01:30.937 The first time I heard "mental health," 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:35.843 I was a boarding school student fresh off the boat from Ghana, 00:01:35.867 --> 00:01:37.798 at the Peddie School in New Jersey. 00:01:39.067 --> 00:01:42.473 I had just gone through the brutal experience 00:01:42.497 --> 00:01:45.050 of losing seven loved ones in the same month. 00:01:46.569 --> 00:01:48.025 The school nurse, 00:01:48.049 --> 00:01:52.113 concerned about what I'd gone through -- God bless her soul -- 00:01:52.137 --> 00:01:54.087 she inquired about my mental health. 00:01:55.426 --> 00:01:57.409 "Is she mental?" I thought. 00:01:58.214 --> 00:02:00.658 Does she not know I'm an African man? NOTE Paragraph 00:02:00.682 --> 00:02:01.696 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:01.720 --> 00:02:03.591 Like Okonkwo in "Things Fall Apart," 00:02:03.615 --> 00:02:08.356 we African men neither process nor express our emotions. 00:02:08.971 --> 00:02:10.662 We deal with our problems. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:10.686 --> 00:02:12.229 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:13.181 --> 00:02:15.180 We deal with our problems. 00:02:15.204 --> 00:02:19.975 I called my brother and laughed about "Oyibo" people -- white people -- 00:02:19.999 --> 00:02:21.856 and their strange diseases -- 00:02:21.880 --> 00:02:25.118 depression, ADD and those "weird things." 00:02:26.500 --> 00:02:28.491 Growing up in West Africa, 00:02:28.515 --> 00:02:32.896 when people used the term "mental," what came to mind was a madman 00:02:32.920 --> 00:02:35.163 with dirty, dread-locked hair, 00:02:35.187 --> 00:02:37.963 bumbling around half-naked on the streets. 00:02:39.084 --> 00:02:40.904 We all know this man. 00:02:40.928 --> 00:02:43.209 Our parents warned us about him. 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:45.365 "Mommy, mommy, why is he mad?" 00:02:45.389 --> 00:02:46.601 "Drugs! 00:02:46.625 --> 00:02:49.014 If you even look at drugs, you end up like him." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:49.038 --> 00:02:50.227 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:50.980 --> 00:02:53.045 Come down with pneumonia, 00:02:53.069 --> 00:02:55.601 and your mother will rush you to the nearest hospital 00:02:55.625 --> 00:02:57.007 for medical treatment. 00:02:58.090 --> 00:03:00.706 But dare to declare depression, 00:03:01.458 --> 00:03:04.860 and your local pastor will be driving out demons 00:03:04.884 --> 00:03:06.728 and blaming witches in your village. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:07.298 --> 00:03:10.198 According to the World Health Organization, 00:03:10.222 --> 00:03:13.280 mental health is about being able to cope 00:03:13.304 --> 00:03:15.003 with the normal stressors of life; 00:03:15.921 --> 00:03:19.364 to work productively and fruitfully; 00:03:19.388 --> 00:03:23.015 and to be able to make a contribution to your community. 00:03:23.501 --> 00:03:30.113 Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. 00:03:30.856 --> 00:03:35.616 Globally, 75 percent of all mental illness cases 00:03:35.640 --> 00:03:38.274 can be found in low-income countries. 00:03:38.298 --> 00:03:40.130 Yet most African governments 00:03:40.154 --> 00:03:44.361 invest less than one percent of their health care budget 00:03:44.385 --> 00:03:45.661 in mental health. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:46.681 --> 00:03:47.861 Even worse, 00:03:47.885 --> 00:03:52.004 we have a severe shortage of psychiatrists in Africa. 00:03:52.836 --> 00:03:57.119 Nigeria, for example, is estimated to have 200 -- 00:03:57.812 --> 00:04:00.833 in a country of almost 200 million. 00:04:02.422 --> 00:04:03.891 In all of Africa, 00:04:03.915 --> 00:04:07.818 90 percent of our people lack access to treatment. 00:04:08.681 --> 00:04:10.434 As a result, 00:04:10.458 --> 00:04:13.462 we suffer in solitude, 00:04:13.486 --> 00:04:15.930 silenced by stigma. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:17.498 --> 00:04:22.173 We as Africans often respond to mental health with distance, 00:04:22.844 --> 00:04:24.046 ignorance, 00:04:24.535 --> 00:04:25.713 guilt, 00:04:26.134 --> 00:04:27.340 fear 00:04:27.934 --> 00:04:29.220 and anger. 00:04:30.309 --> 00:04:34.986 In a study conducted by Arboleda-Flórez, 00:04:35.010 --> 00:04:38.668 directly asking, "What is the cause of mental illness?" 00:04:39.667 --> 00:04:44.951 34 percent of Nigerian respondents cited drug misuse; 00:04:46.340 --> 00:04:51.524 19 percent said divine wrath and the will of God -- NOTE Paragraph 00:04:51.548 --> 00:04:52.853 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:53.450 --> 00:04:54.908 12 percent, 00:04:56.130 --> 00:04:58.896 witchcraft and spiritual possession. 00:04:59.796 --> 00:05:04.356 But few cited other known causes of mental illness, 00:05:04.380 --> 00:05:06.026 like genetics, 00:05:06.050 --> 00:05:07.986 socioeconomic status, 00:05:08.010 --> 00:05:09.605 war, 00:05:09.629 --> 00:05:11.042 conflict 00:05:11.066 --> 00:05:12.581 or the loss of a loved one. 00:05:14.009 --> 00:05:16.896 The stigmatization against mental illness 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:21.386 often results in the ostracizing and demonizing of sufferers. 00:05:22.435 --> 00:05:26.431 Photojournalist Robin Hammond has documented some of these abuses ... 00:05:26.455 --> 00:05:27.848 in Uganda, 00:05:28.845 --> 00:05:30.174 in Somalia, 00:05:31.269 --> 00:05:33.098 and here in Nigeria. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:35.554 --> 00:05:36.896 For me, 00:05:38.057 --> 00:05:40.376 the stigma is personal. 00:05:42.122 --> 00:05:43.751 In 2009, 00:05:44.796 --> 00:05:47.902 I received a frantic call in the middle of the night. 00:05:49.359 --> 00:05:51.707 My best friend in the world -- 00:05:51.731 --> 00:05:56.870 a brilliant, philosophical, charming, hip young man -- 00:05:56.894 --> 00:05:59.045 was diagnosed with schizophrenia. 00:06:00.604 --> 00:06:05.022 I witnessed some of the friends we'd grown up with recoil. 00:06:07.316 --> 00:06:08.839 I heard the snickers. 00:06:09.628 --> 00:06:11.220 I heard the whispers. 00:06:12.186 --> 00:06:14.416 "Did you hear he has gone mad?" 00:06:15.275 --> 00:06:17.805 (Pidgin) "He start torch o!" ["He has gone crazy!"] 00:06:17.849 --> 00:06:22.169 Derogatory, demeaning commentary about his condition -- 00:06:22.193 --> 00:06:26.170 words we would never say about someone with cancer 00:06:26.194 --> 00:06:27.954 or someone with malaria. 00:06:28.664 --> 00:06:32.343 Somehow, when it comes to mental illness, 00:06:32.367 --> 00:06:35.417 our ignorance eviscerates all empathy. 00:06:36.719 --> 00:06:40.888 I stood by his side as his community isolated him, 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.492 but our love never wavered. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:45.848 --> 00:06:48.927 Tacitly, I became passionate about mental health. 00:06:49.874 --> 00:06:52.506 Inspired by his plight, 00:06:52.530 --> 00:06:55.853 I helped found the mental health special interest alumni group 00:06:55.877 --> 00:06:57.532 at my college. 00:06:57.556 --> 00:07:00.933 And during my tenure as a resident tutor in graduate school, 00:07:00.957 --> 00:07:04.919 I supported many undergraduates with their mental health challenges. 00:07:05.451 --> 00:07:07.966 I saw African students struggle 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:09.827 and unable to speak to anyone. 00:07:10.746 --> 00:07:14.742 Even with this knowledge and with their stories in tow, 00:07:14.766 --> 00:07:16.752 I, in turn, struggled, 00:07:16.776 --> 00:07:21.349 and could not speak to anyone when I faced my own anxiety, 00:07:21.373 --> 00:07:25.335 so deep is our fear of being the madman. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:27.915 --> 00:07:29.113 All of us -- 00:07:29.878 --> 00:07:32.065 but we Africans especially -- 00:07:32.955 --> 00:07:38.862 need to realize that our mental struggles do not detract from our virility, 00:07:38.886 --> 00:07:41.777 nor does our trauma taint our strength. 00:07:42.936 --> 00:07:47.645 We need to see mental health as important as physical health. 00:07:48.583 --> 00:07:52.986 We need to stop suffering in silence. 00:07:54.119 --> 00:07:57.577 We must stop stigmatizing disease 00:07:57.601 --> 00:07:59.807 and traumatizing the afflicted. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:03.038 Talk to your friends. 00:08:04.014 --> 00:08:05.590 Talk to your loved ones. 00:08:06.574 --> 00:08:08.339 Talk to health professionals. 00:08:09.617 --> 00:08:10.895 Be vulnerable. 00:08:11.795 --> 00:08:13.672 Do so with the confidence 00:08:14.515 --> 00:08:17.042 that you are not alone. 00:08:18.191 --> 00:08:20.371 Speak up if you're struggling. 00:08:22.594 --> 00:08:26.121 Being honest about how we feel 00:08:26.145 --> 00:08:27.804 does not make us weak; 00:08:28.809 --> 00:08:30.352 it makes us human. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:31.679 --> 00:08:36.225 It is time to end the stigma associated with mental illness. 00:08:37.110 --> 00:08:40.521 So the next time your hear "mental," 00:08:41.408 --> 00:08:43.403 do not just think of the madman. 00:08:44.343 --> 00:08:45.552 Think of me. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:45.976 --> 00:08:47.900 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:47.924 --> 00:08:49.207 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:49.231 --> 00:08:53.223 (Applause)