As Published in The CASON Magazine
John 14: 1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
A google search on ‘Suicide rates in Nigeria’ would easily generate a hit of about four million, eight hundred and sixty thousand [4,860,000]! It is hardly a surprise to see this result considering that any rational citizen would be genuinely perturbed with the prevailing trend of suicide in the country.
People are seeking to make sense of the phenomenon; looking for what the major culprits might be.
Some ascribe the development to increasing lowered standards of living pervasive across the country, occasioned largely by massive loss of jobs, un-abating unemployment levels, financial difficulties and despondency on account of the aforementioned. Others have ascribed the incidences to environmental factors resulting in a critical dive in survival instincts like ‘resilience’ especially with teenage suicide tendencies cum reports.
Medical practitioners under the aegis of the Society of Family Physicians of Nigeria, SOFPON, raised the alarm that seven million Nigerians are living with depression, a major risk factor for suicide, and called for well-structured Primary Healthcare Centers [PHCs], that would help detect and treat depression early before the onset of suicide attemptsa.
According to the World Health Organization, WHO, there are 322 million people living with depression in the world. In the WHO suicide ranking, Nigeria, with 15.1 suicides per 100,000 population per year, is ranked the 30th most suicide-prone out of 183 nations in the worldb.
Other factors which predisposes one to depression include but not limited to: a hard life, dashed hopes, all shades of trauma [like loss of a loved one], unrestrained stress and dealing with or caring for a physically challenged person.
With the popular mindset characterized by lack of value for human life in this part of the world, it is unclear if the authorities consider as priority the stemming of this sinister trend.
Just as with corruption, it seem incongruent also that with the country’s religious reputation, Nigeria still ranks 10th in Africa as country with the most suicide rates.
There has been growing conversations around what the role of the church should be vis-a-vis this disturbing development. Typically, conversations bother on whether the church is truly equipped to cater to issues relating to mental and emotional wellness.
For years, most of our churches have had [still have] counselling units whose roles include catering to members’ issues requiring one-on-one treatment.
With the advent of ‘Coaching’ as a profession within the Nigerian space, came also a new paradigm of ‘Therapy’. Like coaching, this ‘new’ therapy model is already gaining traction amongst growing population of Nigerians. It is an approach to therapy from a standpoint of ‘wholeness’ [relating to the attainment of substantial balance amongst interrelated elements of a person’s life] as opposed to ‘wellness’ [relating solely to psychological and physical health]. However, vis-à-vis therapy for psychological wellbeing, even religious bodies now project that there is humongous value that therapists bring to the table where the handling of debilitating mental issues are concerned.
My personal voyage in the fields of Emotional Intelligence, Coaching and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy leave me with strong assertions on how concepts in these fields actually have foundations which are in tandem with the principles entrenched in the Word of God. To my mind, the real value in these body of knowledge appear to be the amount of work done in building viable frameworks and useable techniques [including listening and questioning techniques] out of the very principles which Christians have perhaps become too accustomed to.
Haven said that, it appears as though affected persons see palpable results largely because a therapist was committed to walking along on the journey and standing firmly with them as an accountability partner.
And the above premise is why to my mind the subject of social responsibility with respect to mental and emotional wellness is most certainly a critical one. It is critical because our human resource as a nation is depleting not only on account of terrorist activities but also as a result of avoidable suicide acts.
In a previous article, I wrote about how Churches need to be running on all cylinders in being proactive in stemming the ugly tide of cosmopolitan induced stress and related tendencies as suicide; to articulate the message of hope more purposefully, engage professional contribution where necessary and begin garnering help for those who’re already adversely affected.
Granted, there is still the issue of stigma which heavily impact on an affected person’s ability to admit that they need help. Affected persons would as a result allow the situation fester until it is too late for an intervention to reach them. This ought not to be so. I believe strongly that it is important for us to begin to initiate meaningful, viable, creative, inspiring conversions around this predominant stigma vis-à-vis breaking its power and its hold in the church and within our polity.
There is a growing number of persons who believe that affected persons obtain worthwhile results with their therapists as opposed to spiritual leaders. The argument stem from a perception that spiritual leaders are more predisposed to judgement and that happens to be a major turnoff. Titus 3:2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.
In the Alder State of the Church Report [2016]c, 36.1% of the respondents indicated that their concern vis-à-vis discussing personal issues with their Pastor bothers on the fear of being judged and/or condemned.
If this assertion is true then the question we should be asking is: What is it about sitting in with a therapist for a thirty minutes session; a couple of times a week and over a few months that generate such dramatic outcomes? How can the church begin to collaborate in this regard, where it matters most considering that the vast majority of church people believe that this ‘counseling’ job is the exclusive preserve of ministers and pastors? How do we successfully align and move forward in a truly progressive manner?
I believe that by sifting through prevailing mindsets and sorting out associated misgivings vis-à-vis notions about Christians seeking professional assistance, Church leaders and experts in related fields can begin to identify common grounds that can be leveraged upon in order to stall this suicide trend – and that with a sense of urgency. After all, that is the major thrust of our calling as a church: ‘To save a dying world!’
Chances are that there are therapists who are part of particular ministries but who unfortunately are not acknowledged much less given a chance to contribute in areas where they have expertise.
Again, could ministers themselves seek out knowledge and attempt to build competencies that make for result oriented counselling, coaching and/or therapy? Considering it could take a while for church people to move away from the widespread taboo-like perception associated with the seeking of professional assistance. This might be a viable path to take especially for smaller church groups that may not have the luxury or capability of much larger groups with specialized systems and that could easily engage professionals within their membership.
It is my hope that when your church decides on her next social responsibility project, that this all critical theme will make it to the top of your agenda. I hope also that your project would be deployed in a truly wholesome manner and in ways that generate the most impact not only for persons within your membership but also for those without. Hopefully on account of your efforts and God’s grace, the church will succeed with foiling the next suicide attempt in Nigeria.
[a], [b] https://www.vanguardngr.com
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