Psychiatric Psychosocial Rebilibation in Nigeria; What Needs to be Done

Abstract

Nigerians who suffer from severe mental illness also need psychiatric
psychosocial rehabilitation. Despite the availability of a wide range of mental health services in Nigeria, majority of Nigerians with mental health relatively have their needs unmet. To fill this unmet gap, Nigerian psychiatrists should also make psychiatric psychosocial interventions available at the primary health care centres and in the rural communities. When these services are available in the community, Nigerians with mental health disorders can easily acquire the available social, emotional and intellectual skills provided by mental health experts to enable them live and work with minimal supervision from clinicians. The aim of this paper is therefore to further sensitize Nigeria mental health care providers on the need to make psychiatric psychosocial services available at the primary health care centres and rural communities for every Nigerian with mental illness.

Key words: psychosocial, rehabilitation, psychiatry, Nigeria