[ 2015-04-23 ]

Mahama needs mental checkup due to extreme stress - Chief psychiatrist
The chief psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service
has suggested to President John Mahama to undergo
psychological checkup due to the stress he is
going through as a result of the energy crisis
among other issues.

According to Dr Akwasi Osei, his suggestion does
not mean Mahama has a mental disorder, but it will
be prudent for the First Gentleman to embark on
such exercise considering his busy schedule.

“It’s very crucial, for the whole country, the
government is the executive of the country and the
government is made up of people and for every
single individual, your mind is the chief
executive of your body. Therefore it means the
mind of the President is the chief executive of
not only his own body but the whole country and
that becomes doubly crucial,” Dr Osei told
Kumasi-based Ultimate FM.


“I have no reason to think that he [Mahama] is
in a state that requires a checkup per say, but is
a general principle that we are giving… the
presidency is a lot of stress and you’ll need to
de-stress and this is a measure that will help him
to de-stress,” the acting Chief Executive of the
Mental Health Authority (MHA) told host Prince
Minkah.

“Would you want the president to take advantage
of it [mental screening]?” Minkah asked.

“It will certainly be important,” Dr Osei
retorted.

He is also of the view that every public officer
must undergo mental screening at least once a
year.

“My counsel will be that… just as I would
encourage them to have regular, clinical or health
checkup, so in the same way, they should include
psychological checkup in the health checkup. That
is very crucial,” Dr Osei insisted.

He added: “I’m not saying that go and check
your heart alone, go and check your kidney and
therefore go and check your mind alone, the
holistic checkup should include psychological and
it should be quite regular. May be the higher you
are, the more frequent it should be.”

A study conducted in 2009 showed that 41 percent
of Ghanaians had psychological distress. 19
percent representing about 4.75 million of the 25
million population of the distress was moderate to
severe; but enough to be considered mental
disorder.

Source - Starrfmonline

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