Lwando Mhobo, 25, suffered many bouts of depression with episodes of anxiety, resulting in him dropping out of his studies towards a BCom (Economics and Econometrics) at UJ in 2016.
Relaying his ordeal in an exclusive interview, Lwando said there were days where he could not complete even the simplest task, or even get up to go to campus. To make matters even worse, he did not know what it was that held him back.
“I could not put a finger on what it was exactly until I researched the topic of mental health and came to realise what it was I was suffering from,” he said. It was depression and anxiety.
He said he then made a commitment to educate as many of those as possible who might be suffering from the same things, and not even know it. In 2017, he established Outlndr to use as a platform to highlight the seriousness of mental health issues in society, especially among the youth.
Until shortly before gaining an understanding of his condition, Lwando said he felt like an outsider and used various methods to try to escape his reality. He would resort to smoking dagga, and even abused codeine, which is found in many cough syrups.
“It helped me forget my problems, but sometimes I used to think if I was dead I would not not be such an inconvenience and a nuisance to my family.”
Despite such negative thoughts he luckily never thought of committing suicide, but carried on with his life.
Today, Lwando’s organisation sees many mental health problems that are deemed to be taboo, with people fearing the stigma and labelling. This, he said, mostly occurs in the black community.
“If you are identified as someone who has mental health issues, society is quick to dismiss you. It is seemingly a small label, but its impact can be tremendous.”
He said one of the things people need to do is to make sure that they heal and don’t sweep issues under the carpet, because they will simply come back to haunt them.
Lwando attributed many cases of depression to constant exposure to social media, which he said makes people envious of each other, thus creating a false sense of reality.
He said many of those who do not speak out are often psychologically and emotionally scarred.
“I have come to realise that we go to school for so many things, but emotional literacy is something we are never taught, and we do not know what to do with our emotions. There are also belief systems and societal pressures that play a role, and how we handle trauma is important.”
He said many of his clients suffer from depression because they are unemployed, and more recently, many of them are graduates who cannot find work.
