SOCIAL SUPPORT AS A PANACEA FOR MENTAL ILLNESS: A STUDY OF NIGERIAN IMMIGRANTS IN BRAAMFONTEIN, JOHANNESBURG

Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 10:20 Written by Natural Health Team Tuesday, 11 October 2011 10:20

Health Information about SOCIAL SUPPORT AS A PANACEA FOR MENTAL ILLNESS: A STUDY OF NIGERIAN IMMIGRANTS IN BRAAMFONTEIN, JOHANNESBURG

This paper synthesizes some readings with my fieldwork on Nigerian immigrants in Braamfontein,  Johannesburg.  Some of this week readings support the view that social contacts tend to reduce Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)  in refugees; and some of the readings identified unemployment, lack of access to health care, lack of basic amenities and ‘poverty’ as the major determinants of physical and mental health of refugees in the host communities. This paper makes sense of Nigerian immigrants in South Africa with mental illness due to unemployment, distress, lack of accommodation, lack of access to health care and in all, segregation from the Nigerian community. This paper argues that social support tend to reduce mental ill-health in a person (whether immigrant or native) if only an individual reciprocates as a member of such group. I will use my fieldwork among Nigerian immigrants in Braamfontein to show the positive influence of social networks as well as the negative influence of what I call “self social alienation” among the members of this group.

Many scholars have written about humanitarian assistance and social support for refugees and other forced migrants because of their traumatic experiences in pre-migration and post-migration period (Keyes, 2000: Englund, 1998; Lie, 2002; Liz, 2006; Menjivar, 2002) but little has been said about  other kinds of  immigrant ( e.g. economic migrant) who could need such assistance in their host country. Lie (2002) is of the view that social supports could lead to decrease in PTSD condition of refugees and asylum seekers if given proper attention. Similarly, Weine et al (1998) in their study of Bosnian refugees in the United States found a decrease in the PTSD of Bosnian refugees after a year of arrival in the United States and that this was in connection with “social stability, acculturation processes, and participation in therapeutic activities”. Consequently, Jerusalem et al (1995) are of the view that there would be a notable turn down of ill health in migrants that received social supports irrespective of their condition. Although different scholars agreed on the importance of ‘social support’ but some of them fail to recognize individual decision to reciprocate such assistance.

My study among 15 Nigerian immigrants in Braamfontein about their livelihood and mental state (all informant are men 20 years and above) revealed that 10 of them are unemployed with no good accommodation, 3 own shops or kiosks where they sell food or groceries, while the remaining 2 are working as security guards. These people have different experiences and different interpretation of their situation as it affects their physical and mental state. Some of them complained of ‘migraine and sleeplessness’ as the symptoms of their regular thinking about their family back home, unemployment, and their precarious living conditions in South Africa. 70% of my informants sleep in Nigerians shops and often eat the leftovers (if there is any) of those Nigerians that have restaurant while the remaining 30% stay in shared but often congested apartments.  This set of immigrants are not refugees and thereby getting no aid from any local or international organization except from the leftover they eat from Nigerian restaurants and the sense of  belonging they share with the Nigerian community. One of my informant Jaccusi, (pseudo name) stated that “I used to have this sharp pain in my head because I always think about my family and future but this people (Nigerian group) has shown me love and I am better than before…there is no barrier among the working class and those that are not working because we believe the problem of one is the problem of all…”.  Lobola (pseudo name) says “…what I heard was not what I met in South Africa and I nearly run mad because I thought I had failed myself and my family back home…you know at a time, people told me to stop speaking to myself but I never observed this…I think it was one of those period when I had nobody around me and the stress was much for me…I am better now because of the love from my brothers…”. I cannot analyze the whole interview in this paper because of the limited space but what is interesting here is that these groups of Nigerians that are not refugees also feel what the refugees feel and they ease it with social supports.

An exception was the case of a Nigerian man (name withheld) who was mentally sound when he came to South Africa and was doing well. But a sudden change in his livelihood made him exclude himself from his friends and the entire Nigerian community in Braamfontein, and he kept things to himself as if everything was okay with him. Within months, he started sleeping out and within a period of time his appearance and the way his speech coherence showed that he had become mentally ill. There was nothing anyone could do to help him because they believed he isolated himself from the Nigerian community when he was doing well and wealthy. I monitored the case and spoke with the Nigerian community that we should show him love before we conclude about his mental state that it could be distress rather than the general belief that his illness was a spiritual problem. We started showing him love by giving him money to eat, clothes and shoes. After doing this for about 2 months, this man started recognizing almost everybody by name and he could come to you for help as well as making intelligible contribution to discussions. Recently, I promised to give him something when next we see and when this guy saw me he asked me exactly what I promised him and what I was doing when I promised him. I was shocked because I could not believe the accuracy of memory and statements unlike before. Although, his outward look has not changed totally but he is certainly better than before and I think he feels secure now to a reasonable degree with people around him and he makes his livelihood from them. Similarly, Englund (1998) shows in his study of Mozambican refugees in Malawi the impact of social group supports during the healing (spirit exorcism) process of someone who is possessed and inflicted with mental illness.

In conclusion, the presentation of my case study in this paper is to argue that social support can only have a positive impact on an individual’s well-being and mental health if and only if we can relate to it with a sense of belonging. Unlike most of the literature on mental health,  my case study shows that it is not only the refugees and asylum seekers particularly women and children, that are going through a traumatic situation or experience, e.g. PTSD, men also do. It is on this note I argue that social support could be a panacea for physical and mental ill-health but could not be effected where there is self social alienation.

Englund, H. (1998). Death, Trauma and Ritual: Mozambican Refugees in Malawi. Social Science, Medicine. Vol. 46, No. 9, pp. 1165-1174.

Jerusalem, M. et  al (1995). Individual and community stress: Integration of approaches at different levels. In: Hobfoll SE, DE Vries MW, eds. Extreme stress and communities: impact and intervention. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 105-129.

Keyes, E. (2000). Mental Health Status in Refugees: An Integrative Review of Current Research. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 21: 397-410.

Lie, B. (2002). A 3 year follow-up study of psychosocial functioning and general symptoms in settled refugees. Acta Psychiatr Scand, 106: 415-425.

 Liz, T.  (2006). Social capital and mental health of women living in informal settlements in Durman, South Africa, and Lusaka, Zambia., in Social Capital and Mental Health, (Eds) Mikaziek and Hapham T, Jessica Kingsley, London.

Menjivar, C. (2002). The ties that heal: Guatemalan Immigrant women’s networks and medical treatment. International Migration Review 36(2) 437-466.

Weine , S., et al (1998). PTSD symptoms in Bosnian refugees 1 year after resettlement in the United States. Am J Psychiatry, 155: 562-564.

Mental illness touches everyone: our friends, co-workers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters … and even our children. The statistics are staggering … 1 in 5 suffer from a mental illness, that’s 20% of our population but yet only 4% of the total healthcare budget is spent on our mental health. As a result, mental illness drains 51 billion dollars in lost productivity from the Canadian economy each year. We need to do more than just talk about it, we need to invest in programs and services that will make a difference in people’s lives. The stigma is huge and until we accept people with a mental illness we won’t be able to move forward and make a real difference. Remember mental illness affects us all so please help where you can. Let’s start with acceptance.
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