By 
Guyana, with a population of approximately 746,955 has one of the highest suicide rates in the world yet mental health is not seen as important as physical health and the affected are normally labelled as ‘mad people’. They are left to be dangers to others and themselves; ridiculed and to wallow in their warped reality without any support.
If the mind is unwell then the body cannot be well because the two are not separate entities but dependent upon each other. However, there is stigma associated with mental conditions and affected persons are treated like outcasts who have ‘shamed’ their families with their mental afflictions.
Attitude towards mental health
In Guyana, attitudes toward mental illnesses have not changed although the country was notoriously named as having the highest rate in the world in 2014 by the WHO. Like other issues it is covered in silence and swept under the carpet. And there is something that I absolutely do not understand, when someone commits suicide people tend to focus on the means used – very often pesticides (gramoxone) due to availability – rather than the reasons.
So a person may have been depressed due to financial reasons or domestic violence which is very commonplace but when he/she commits suicide it’s the means used that become the focus. It’s like people do everything possible, even when death visits, to skirt around the real reasons; the big ‘why’. The government even implemented measures to reduce access to poisons and pesticides. While this was commendable it didn’t address the real issue, mental health and lack of access to counselling services.
In addition, I can recall reading that the government advised the media to not report cases of suicide. It claimed that this would encourage others. This ‘advice’ was apparently put into practice; there are rarely reports on the subject matter. Since this started happening it was claimed that the suicide rate of the country dropped drastically, how convenient. If you didn’t hear or read about it then it didn’t happen…
Video by CGTN America
Mentally ill persons are left to roam and live on the streets. People make fun of them and sometimes they attack with or without provocation. A few years ago, I was about to board a bus when I felt a sharp sting on my cheek. A woman walking along the bus and dressed in tattered and dirty clothing had just slapped me and ran away! I was left with my mouth opened for a full minute in complete shock then the conductor told me she was a well-known ‘mad woman’.
Lack of Communication
I find that people just do not know how to have normal conversations with others on sensitive topics. It is better for them to criticize and castigate than provide a listening ear and be non-judgemental. It’s like you are expected to be perfect, contented and keep your problems to yourself all the time. People live by the mantra that if something is not said then it doesn’t exist and all is well. In the first place though, talking is not allowed to occur.
Guyana is a conservative society and people are often intolerant of ‘oddity’. There is an expectation on conduct and behaviour and if you deviate then you are criticized and judge but the persons doing that don’t want to know the why behind your actions. For instance, when I was 16 I fell into a state of depression due to things that were beyond my control but which affected me tremendously. I started acting out and in retrospect it was maybe a way to draw the attention of the persons whose actions were affecting me. Well, years after a relative of my parents said that I was basically a bad person then. This person is toxic and the only involvement she had in my life was as a burden on my mental well-being. I asked her why didn’t she try to find out what was wrong and offer to help if she felt that I was doing ‘bad’ things then . She couldn’t answer…
Lack of counsellors everywhere!
I was bullied during my high school years and I witnessed countless children being bullied yet year after year the government continues to ignore the issue of mental health by not having counsellors in schools or atleast one to a school or group of schools within a particular geographical area. So I was bullied for years ‘openly’ in school with the teachers being knowledgeable of it and not once was I sent to see a counsellor, welfare officer or had any ‘informal’ counselling sessions with any teacher. The bullying affected me so much that on several occasions I became physically ill while at school. No wonder Guyana attained the notorious title of having one of the highest suicide rates worldwide.
Homophobia
It is a homophobic society. I’ve seen people being verbally abused on the streets for behaving in a manner that is deemed abnormal. Gay men especially face the brunt of homophobic attacks because the vast majority of lesbians/bisexual women are still in the closet with their sexuality.
No doubt homophobia starts from childhood. I witnessed children, especially boys, being bullied by other children for not behaving ‘manly’ enough or displaying behaviour that other children deemed as feminine. And what did the teachers do? Well they sent for the parents of the ‘offenders’ for them to change the behaviour of their ‘feminine sons’ and have them act like ‘normal boys’ or they counselled these children themselves about their ‘abnormal’ behaviour and demanded that they behave like ‘normal boys’.
Years of psychological trauma and rejection awaits the homosexual person in our society. That is the sad truth and glossing over the ugliness doesn’t remove it. Guyana still has a long way to go in terms of acceptance of homosexuality. I can’t lie though and say that nothing is being done; SASOD and similar organisations have been fighting for years on behalf of those rejected because of their sexual orientation but I think more can be done for school children; counsellors in schools and training for educators to lessen the discrimination. Being a conservative society people tend to impose their values and beliefs on others without acknowledging that we are all individuals with different views, beliefs and lifestyles.
Attacks and rejection
I have seen people being bullied and treated like outcasts just for behaving ‘differently’ or experiencing some sort of mental breakdown. This lack of empathy and unwillingness to help is experienced by all at different stages of life. Mental health issues coupled with the unavailability of counselling services, medical help, support from relatives and friends and societal rejection form a deadly brew that leads the affected down a path of misery and possibly death. I wonder if people especially in the society I live would ever see mental health as being just as important as physical health and try to reach out to those in need who most of the time need a listening ear, a bit of understanding and empathy.
