Where in a society you sense issues of mental insanity being hushed up in silence as if it were not existing while lunatics in the streets are either avoided like plagues or jeered at or are sexually abused, it is the collective humanities of the people that are being called to question.
If one may ask what are the common attitudes peculiar to people commonly referred to as lunatics ?
Bushy hair, ragged clothing and walking the streets naked while soliloquizing or muttering unintelligibly.
But there are lunatics and there are lunatics.
Take it or leave it;
the common reason of madness which is today ravaging our streets is caused by much anxiety over many things and the irony of this mental illness is that there are more lunatics in suit and skirts than those who are walking naked in the streets or receiving treatment at Behavioural department of mental homes.
The perpetual fear of life-after office and the perpetual fear of succession are the major causes of madness and incidentally most victims are not in the streets but are in mansions and palaces.
It was for this reason Jesus Christ pointed out that the way to avoid delusion of Lunacy is to be anxious over nothing.
So when it comes to rehabilitation we may need to ask ourselves the question: Should it be a one-way rehabilitation which attempts to rehabilitate only those we perceived as lunatics in the streets ?
What of the Executive lunatics in office who are stealing billions of naira from public treasuries simply because of their fear of life after office?
What of those who perceived themselves as normal people but are hostile to their fellow human beings ( and would not want to associate with them) simply because their addiction has yanked off their reasoning yet the so-called " normal people are running errands for the Executive lunatics in suit ?
Kings and Presidents are victims of mental illness and insanity and this dated back to ancient times while it is still happening till date. Hence the stigma that is always driven around the illness and those inflicted by it as if it were unheard of is borne out of ignorance or out of downright wickedness.
King Saul and King Nebuchadnezzar were examples of heads of empires who were afflicted with insanity because of their perpetual fear of life after office and perpetual fear of succession .
We also need to get it straight that lunatics are not necessarily those who are worst sinners or people who have sinned beyond pardon.
It was during the ASUU prolonged strike that I came across university students who are in different psychiatric hospitals receiving treatment for mental related disorders, especially depression which came about from their inability to cope with the trauma resulting from the disruption of their studies.
SO MUCH FOR REHABILITATION
With my experience in recent times inside and outside of mental homes , it seems to me that the society is the first victim to be rehabilitated and saved from obsolete legislation which is comparable to an application of medicine on somebody who is already dead .
Again, next to be revisited are some of our proverbs in Yoruba land which are anti-therapy to mental health care.
It is common to hear people say :" were dun wo loja kose bilomo " ( That it is always fascinating a scenario to watch lunatics dancing at the market square but repulsive to have them as one's children. "
Is this a therapy for being one's brother's keepers or one in which one is being asked to do unto others as one would be done by ?
What is it to Rehabilitate ? The original sense of the meaning of the word was :" to restore formally to former privileges , rank and possession. Then to re-establish the good name or reputation of ...
The word is from:" habilitate: to become qualified for. It is taken from the Latin " habilitas " ABILITY.
Hence when one is rehabilitated, it means one is being restored with ABILITY; being made to be able to do again.
He is restored with Habit ; tendency to perform certain action .
What were we able to do as normal human being and image of God before we lost ability to do ?
What knowledge were we fortified with as images of God originally ?
( Read Genesis 1:31 )
Also read Act. 10:15)
When it comes to rehabilitating the public , it is sufficient for the members of the public to have a change of attitude by reflecting on the Biblical verses here below:
REHABILITATION
" What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. ( Act.10:15 )
" And God saw everything that He had made , and behold, it was very good. ( Genesis 1:31)
When it comes to the rehabilitation of kings and people in high places, it is sufficient here also to make meaning from the Biblical remarks of King Nebuchadnezzar who underwent rehabilitation in which his ability and glory were restored.
"At the same time my reason returned unto me ; and for the glory of my kingdom, my honour and brightness returned unto me ; and my counsellor and my lords sought unto me ; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me." ( Daniel 4:36)
By OLALERE FAGBOLA
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