Mental Health is Just An Excuse

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Naomi Osaka, tennis star.

Mental health has always been used as an excuse for heinous crimes like murder. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies where lawyers for the accused plead, not guilty by reason of insanity.

There are many people locked behind high security gates in mental institutions. Equally, mental health is used so carelessly, it will soon lose its meaning. Examples.

l Payton Gendron (18) plans a mass shooting in Buffalo New York, killing black shoppers in a supermarket. He had an intention, bought the weapons he needed and decided on the time for the massacre. Now there’s a claim he had mental health problems.

l Men and women in professional sports don’t like losing matches or answering sports media questions. Some use mental health as an excuse.

l Just recently, a Nigerian actress decided to get off social media, something that happens everyday. Her fans, who have nothing to do with their lives except follow her, claim she has mental problems. Ridiculous as it seems, they are implying that social media is as compulsory as oxygen. Closing your accounts means you are mentally unstable.

Doctors, psychiatrists and other health professionals must be concerned about the misuse. It nullifies their work of identifying, prevention and treatment of mental health.

Online claims of mental health are usually unfounded and not supported by medical evidence.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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