By Sarah NEGEDU
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2022 World Mental Health week, telecommunication giant, 9mobile has called for improved awareness on the impact of loneliness on mental health.According to the Executive Director, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs of 9mobile, Abdulrahman Ado, a sound mental health is critical to the overall wellbeing of an individual.Ado, who stated this shortly after the 5th edition of the company’s health talk series to mark this year’s global mental health awareness week, said there is the need for a sustained conversation around mental health issues.In his words, “Mental health is one issue that needs to constantly be on the health front burner because of its impact on human lives. As a customer-centric brand that cares about the wellbeing of Nigerians, we are doing what we can to increase awareness through advocacy and ensure that the conversation around mental health is sustained, hence the need for the 9mobile Health Talk Series.”The session titled, “Loneliness and
Mental Health”, featured Dr. Egemba Chionanso Fidelis, a certified medical doctor, popularly known as Aproko Doctor on social media.In his presentation, Egemba explained that loneliness is a bodily function which can set-in when the social interaction needs of an individual are not met.Thankfully, he noted that human beings have come to realize the need to survive in groups.He emphasized that there is a difference between ‘loneliness’ and ‘being alone’, adding that though the terms sound similar they are totally different.
“Loneliness is a bodily function while being alone is a state of the mind.”Though he pointed that there are no pin-point cause has been traced to loneliness, however, certain group of people were identified as being susceptible to loneliness that is people who overly keep to themselves otherwise called introverts.Speaking further, Egemba identified two types of loneliness, acute and chronic. Acute loneliness usually occurs suddenly and are temporal, while chronic loneliness can affect both the mental and physical health of an individual and usually last longer.The mental health awareness week is designed to drive conversation around mental health challenges and how to address it in the best interest and wellbeing of society.
