Stop Smoking ‘Wee’ To Avoid Mental Illnesses

Richard Avadetsi, the Deputy Director of Nursing Services of the Psychiatry unit of the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, on Tuesday urged Senior High School Students to observe healthy living habits so as to avoid mental illnesses.

He asked the students to eschew smoking Indian herb, ‘Wee’, abuse of drugs such as Tramadol, Ataryar and excessive alcohol consumption among others as those were the things that could easily jeopardize one’s mental health.

Mr Avadetsi made the call during an outreach programme to some educational institutions in Bawku, Upper East Region, to create Awareness of the health condition and to mark the National Mental Health day on the theme: Depression and Suicide: Let’s talk about mental health.

He said observing good personal hygiene, good eating habits, exercise and good personal relations with people in society among other things would foster perfect body efficiency to prevent any form of mental illness.

Addressing the students of Bawku Technical Institute, Bawku Senior High School and the Bawku Senior High Technical School and some basic educational institutions in the area, Mr Avadetsi pointed out that good mental health had more relevance in academic work because with a stable mind one could absorb the lessons taught in class and would perform better in the academic field.

He mentioned that the negative effects of substance abuse were enormous on the individual as it could cause instability and inconsistencies in one’s behaviour.

He said schizophrenia, anxiety, seizures, dementia, and delirium, bipolar affective, Parkinson’s, anorexia, bulimia, autism and depression among others were forms of mental illnesses and that much attention must be given to people who suffer from such disorders.

He urged the students to adopt the habit of going in for routine mental check-ups and report any form of mental illnesses to the nearest psychiatrist for attention. Mr. Avadetsi called on the students to focus on their studies and aim at excelling.

Source: thePublisher