Bertha Gxowa Hospital hosted a breast cancer and mental health awareness walk on October 20, from the hospital to Germiston Lake.

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The walk was aimed at raising awareness around mental health issues and breast cancer as the month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

October is also recognised in South African as Transport Month.

Mjacu Zimasa, operational manager at the psychiatric ward, and Mampe Marapyane, Bertha Gxowa Hospital’s communication officer, also joined the walk.

Mampe said they also had games and fun activities to wrap up the day.

“When we raise our voices together, we help spread the word about the importance of breast cancer screening and support,” said Marampyane.

“Unfortunately our speaker on breast cancer was called to attend patients at the hospital before he delivered his statement.”

Mental Health

The GCN spoke with Zimasa who dove into issues of mental health and shared tips on how to deal with common diseases that she deals with on daily basis.

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She said mental health issues are complex and diverse.

“With my experience in the field, we have dealt with different diagnosis like schizophrenia, depression, bipolar mood disorder and substance/medication-induced mental disorders,” said Zimasa.

“Schizophrenia is characterised by thoughts or experiences that seem out of touch with reality. At times the patient would be hearing voices that no one around them hears.

“They would see people chasing them and they would lock themselves in a room and not want to go outside. Usually it starts in males around the ages of 18.

“It is characterised by the decline in functioning. You will note a decreased participation in daily activities.

Schizophrenia can also be genetic hence we ask is there anyone in the family who might have been diagnosed with the disease before.”

Bipolar mood disorder is associated with episodes of mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs.

“A patient would have happy emotions and be talkative, have racing thoughts and be energetic.

That would be pole one. When the patients is sad, depressed and wants to be alone, with feelings of suicide, that would be diagnosis of pole two.

“I am seeing a lot of bipolar mood disorder. It is important for family members of patients suffering from this to understand it.

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“We have a gap between where you deal with the patient but we forget about the family that surrounds them,” said Zimasa.

She added that the hospital deals with substance and medication-induced mental disorders on a daily basis.

“The challenge is resources, because these patients need rehabilitation. Most rehabilitation centres are private and expensive.”

“There is a number of depression diagnosis, including clinical depression, persistent depressive disorder, postpartum depression (PPD) and bipolar associated depression.”

She said bipolar disorder and depression are not the same diagnoses.

“Depression lacks a manic or ‘up’ period, which is one of the main differences and depression can be treated with antidepressants.”

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“With bipolar you deal with moods – their mood is too high or too low. These patients will be put on mood stabilisers.”

Suicide

She said most cases among the youth is caused by social issues.

“The rate of unemployment is also a factor. Young people attend school and graduate.

“They sit with their qualifications without getting a job. The pressure becomes too much to handle,” said Zimasa.

She added that Covid-19 also played a role in a number of suicides in the last few years.