ADOLESCENT BELIEFS TOWARDS MENTAL DISORDERS: A SURVEY AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN ABUJA MUNICIPAL AREA COUNCIL, FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Background: Beliefs about mental illness shape individuals’ behaviour towards people with mental illness. Adolescents and young adults are susceptible to developing a mental disorder comes with the unwillingness to seek professional help and their belief. This study seeks to assess the beliefs of adolescents towards mental disorders in a Secondary School in Abuja Municipal Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study designed to determine belief of adolescents about mental illness in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Multistage sampling method was used to select participants. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 25) version. Results: Only 18.8% of the adolescents correctly stated that mental illness is like any other illness. Three-quarters believe that anyone can become mentally ill even celebrities. A high proportion of the adolescents (44.7%) knew that mental illness can be passed from one generation to another. The most commonly endorsed cause of mental illness as believed by the adolescents were; drug abuse (91.3%), brain injury (78.7%), evil spirit (73.1%), diseases (58.1%), and poverty (53.1%). Punishment from God was not a common response as 71.9% disagreed with this item. Only 26.6% of the adolescents knew that being bullied can cause mental illness. Adolescent’s belief about symptoms of mental illness showed that only a few adolescents were able to correctly identify symptoms of mental illness as sadness (18.5%), and excessive fear (27.9%), restlessness (25.7%), insomnia (24.7%). Half of adolescents (52.3%) identified seeing things that are not there as a symptom of mental illness and less than half (39.7%) knew that people that talk to themselves are mentally ill. Conclusion: Mental health experts should engage the cultural and social institutions in communities to enlighten them about the features, causes, risk factors and management of mental illness in order to entrench the correct belief about mental illness among adolescents and young people.