0:00:01.122,0:00:02.813
Last year ...

0:00:02.837,0:00:04.040
was hell.

0:00:04.064,0:00:05.862
(Laughter)

0:00:08.571,0:00:12.123
It was my first time eating[br]Nigerian "jollof."

0:00:12.147,0:00:13.729
(Laughter)

0:00:14.616,0:00:17.475
Actually, in all seriousness,

0:00:17.499,0:00:20.313
I was going through a lot[br]of personal turmoil.

0:00:21.235,0:00:23.416
Faced with enormous stress,

0:00:23.440,0:00:25.463
I suffered an anxiety attack.

0:00:26.542,0:00:29.232
On some days, I could do no work.

0:00:30.336,0:00:32.232
On other days,

0:00:32.256,0:00:35.545
I just wanted to lay in my bed and cry.

0:00:36.658,0:00:41.907
My doctor asked if I'd like to speak[br]with a mental health professional

0:00:41.931,0:00:44.034
about my stress and anxiety.

0:00:44.769,0:00:46.071
Mental health?

0:00:46.972,0:00:50.862
I clammed up and violently[br]shook my head in protest.

0:00:53.245,0:00:56.997
I felt a profound sense of a shame.

0:00:58.413,0:01:01.851
I felt the weight of stigma.

0:01:03.139,0:01:05.498
I have a loving, supportive family

0:01:05.522,0:01:07.829
and incredibly loyal friends,

0:01:07.853,0:01:12.422
yet I could not entertain[br]the idea of speaking to anyone

0:01:12.446,0:01:14.476
about my feeling of pain.

0:01:16.004,0:01:20.471
I felt suffocated[br]by the rigid architecture

0:01:20.495,0:01:22.785
of our African masculinity.

0:01:23.765,0:01:25.880
"People have real problems, Sangu.

0:01:25.904,0:01:27.359
Get over yourself!"

0:01:28.956,0:01:30.937
The first time I heard "mental health,"

0:01:31.880,0:01:35.843
I was a boarding school student[br]fresh off the boat from Ghana,

0:01:35.867,0:01:37.798
at the Peddie School in New Jersey.

0:01:39.067,0:01:42.473
I had just gone through[br]the brutal experience

0:01:42.497,0:01:45.050
of losing seven loved ones[br]in the same month.

0:01:46.569,0:01:48.025
The school nurse,

0:01:48.049,0:01:52.113
concerned about what I'd gone[br]through -- God bless her soul --

0:01:52.137,0:01:54.087
she inquired about my mental health.

0:01:55.426,0:01:57.409
"Is she mental?" I thought.

0:01:58.214,0:02:00.658
Does she not know I'm an African man?

0:02:00.682,0:02:01.696
(Laughter)

0:02:01.720,0:02:03.591
Like Okonkwo in "Things Fall Apart,"

0:02:03.615,0:02:08.356
we African men neither process[br]nor express our emotions.

0:02:08.971,0:02:10.662
We deal with our problems.

0:02:10.686,0:02:12.229
(Applause)

0:02:13.181,0:02:15.180
We deal with our problems.

0:02:15.204,0:02:19.975
I called my brother and laughed[br]about "Oyibo" people -- white people --

0:02:19.999,0:02:21.856
and their strange diseases --

0:02:21.880,0:02:25.118
depression, ADD and those "weird things."

0:02:26.500,0:02:28.491
Growing up in West Africa,

0:02:28.515,0:02:32.896
when people used the term "mental,"[br]what came to mind was a madman

0:02:32.920,0:02:35.163
with dirty, dread-locked hair,

0:02:35.187,0:02:37.963
bumbling around half-naked on the streets.

0:02:39.084,0:02:40.904
We all know this man.

0:02:40.928,0:02:43.209
Our parents warned us about him.

0:02:43.820,0:02:45.365
"Mommy, mommy, why is he mad?"

0:02:45.389,0:02:46.601
"Drugs!

0:02:46.625,0:02:49.014
If you even look at drugs,[br]you end up like him."

0:02:49.038,0:02:50.227
(Laughter)

0:02:50.980,0:02:53.045
Come down with pneumonia,

0:02:53.069,0:02:55.601
and your mother will rush you[br]to the nearest hospital

0:02:55.625,0:02:57.007
for medical treatment.

0:02:58.090,0:03:00.706
But dare to declare depression,

0:03:01.458,0:03:04.860
and your local pastor[br]will be driving out demons

0:03:04.884,0:03:06.728
and blaming witches in your village.

0:03:07.298,0:03:10.198
According to the World[br]Health Organization,

0:03:10.222,0:03:13.280
mental health is about being able to cope

0:03:13.304,0:03:15.003
with the normal stressors of life;

0:03:15.921,0:03:19.364
to work productively and fruitfully;

0:03:19.388,0:03:23.015
and to be able to make[br]a contribution to your community.

0:03:23.501,0:03:30.113
Mental health includes our emotional,[br]psychological and social well-being.

0:03:30.856,0:03:35.616
Globally, 75 percent[br]of all mental illness cases

0:03:35.640,0:03:38.274
can be found in low-income countries.

0:03:38.298,0:03:40.130
Yet most African governments

0:03:40.154,0:03:44.361
invest less than one percent[br]of their health care budget

0:03:44.385,0:03:45.661
in mental health.

0:03:46.681,0:03:47.861
Even worse,

0:03:47.885,0:03:52.004
we have a severe shortage[br]of psychiatrists in Africa.

0:03:52.836,0:03:57.119
Nigeria, for example,[br]is estimated to have 200 --

0:03:57.812,0:04:00.833
in a country of almost 200 million.

0:04:02.422,0:04:03.891
In all of Africa,

0:04:03.915,0:04:07.818
90 percent of our people[br]lack access to treatment.

0:04:08.681,0:04:10.434
As a result,

0:04:10.458,0:04:13.462
we suffer in solitude,

0:04:13.486,0:04:15.930
silenced by stigma.

0:04:17.498,0:04:22.173
We as Africans often respond[br]to mental health with distance,

0:04:22.844,0:04:24.046
ignorance,

0:04:24.535,0:04:25.713
guilt,

0:04:26.134,0:04:27.340
fear

0:04:27.934,0:04:29.220
and anger.

0:04:30.309,0:04:34.986
In a study conducted by Arboleda-Flórez,

0:04:35.010,0:04:38.668
directly asking, "What is the cause[br]of mental illness?,"

0:04:39.667,0:04:44.951
34 percent of Nigerian respondents[br]cited drug misuse;

0:04:46.340,0:04:51.524
19 percent said divine wrath[br]and the will of God --

0:04:51.548,0:04:52.853
(Laughter)

0:04:53.450,0:04:54.908
12 percent,

0:04:56.130,0:04:58.896
witchcraft and spiritual possession.

0:04:59.796,0:05:04.356
But few cited other known[br]causes of mental illness,

0:05:04.380,0:05:06.026
like genetics,

0:05:06.050,0:05:07.986
socioeconomic status,

0:05:08.010,0:05:09.605
war,

0:05:09.629,0:05:11.042
conflict,

0:05:11.066,0:05:12.581
or the loss of a loved one.

0:05:14.009,0:05:16.896
The stigmatization against mental illness

0:05:16.920,0:05:21.386
often results in the ostracizing[br]and demonizing of sufferers.

0:05:22.435,0:05:26.431
Photojournalist Robin Hammond[br]has documented some of these abuses ...

0:05:26.455,0:05:27.848
in Uganda,

0:05:28.845,0:05:30.174
in Somalia,

0:05:31.269,0:05:33.098
and here in Nigeria.

0:05:35.554,0:05:36.896
For me,

0:05:38.057,0:05:40.376
the stigma is personal.

0:05:42.122,0:05:43.751
In 2009,

0:05:44.796,0:05:47.902
I received a frantic call[br]in the middle of the night.

0:05:49.359,0:05:51.707
My best friend in the world --

0:05:51.731,0:05:56.870
a brilliant, philosophical,[br]charming, hip young man --

0:05:56.894,0:05:59.045
was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

0:06:00.604,0:06:05.022
I witnessed some of the friends[br]we'd grown up with recoil.

0:06:07.316,0:06:08.839
I heard the snickers.

0:06:09.628,0:06:11.220
I heard the whispers.

0:06:12.186,0:06:14.416
"Did you hear he has gone mad?"

0:06:15.275,0:06:17.195
[?]

0:06:17.849,0:06:22.169
Derogatory, demeaning commentary[br]about his condition --

0:06:22.193,0:06:26.170
words we would never say[br]about someone with cancer

0:06:26.194,0:06:27.954
or someone with malaria.

0:06:28.664,0:06:32.343
Somehow, when it comes to mental illness,

0:06:32.367,0:06:35.417
our ignorance eviscerates all empathy.

0:06:36.719,0:06:40.888
I stood by his side[br]as his community isolated him,

0:06:42.160,0:06:44.492
but our love never wavered.

0:06:45.848,0:06:48.927
Tacitly, I became passionate[br]about mental health.

0:06:49.874,0:06:52.506
Inspired by his plight,

0:06:52.530,0:06:55.853
I helped found the Mental Health[br]Special Interest Alumni Group

0:06:55.877,0:06:57.532
at my college.

0:06:57.556,0:07:00.933
And during my tenure as a resident[br]tutor in graduate school,

0:07:00.957,0:07:04.919
I supported many undergraduates[br]with their mental health challenges.

0:07:05.451,0:07:07.966
I saw African students struggle,

0:07:07.990,0:07:09.827
and unable to speak to anyone.

0:07:10.746,0:07:14.742
Even with this knowledge[br]and with their stories in tow,

0:07:14.766,0:07:16.752
I, in turn, struggled,

0:07:16.776,0:07:21.349
and could not speak to anyone[br]when I faced my own anxiety,

0:07:21.373,0:07:25.335
so deep is our fear of being the madman.

0:07:27.915,0:07:29.113
All of us --

0:07:29.878,0:07:32.065
but we Africans especially --

0:07:32.955,0:07:38.862
need to realize that our mental struggles[br]do not detract from our virility,

0:07:38.886,0:07:41.777
nor does our trauma taint our strength.

0:07:42.936,0:07:47.645
We need to see mental health[br]as important as physical health.

0:07:48.583,0:07:52.986
We need to stop suffering in silence.

0:07:54.119,0:07:57.577
We must stop stigmatizing disease

0:07:57.601,0:07:59.807
and traumatizing the afflicted.

0:08:01.579,0:08:03.038
Talk to your friends.

0:08:04.014,0:08:05.590
Talk to your loved ones.

0:08:06.574,0:08:08.339
Talk to health professionals.

0:08:09.617,0:08:10.895
Be vulnerable.

0:08:11.795,0:08:13.672
Do so with the confidence

0:08:14.515,0:08:17.042
that you are not alone.

0:08:18.191,0:08:20.371
Speak up if you're struggling.

0:08:22.594,0:08:26.121
Being honest about how we feel

0:08:26.145,0:08:27.804
does not make us weak;

0:08:28.809,0:08:30.352
it makes us human.

0:08:31.679,0:08:36.225
It is time to end the stigma[br]associated with mental illness.

0:08:37.110,0:08:40.521
So the next time your hear "mental,"

0:08:41.408,0:08:43.403
do not just think of the madman.

0:08:44.343,0:08:45.552
Think of me.

0:08:46.036,0:08:47.900
(Applause)

0:08:47.924,0:08:49.207
Thank you.

0:08:49.231,0:08:51.761
(Applause)