Depression can lead to a downward spiral in every aspect of your life

The organisation Mental Matters had an open conversation for men who are struggling with mental health in Rivonia on 30 March.

According to a statement from the founder of Mental Matters, Gugu Masondo, it is estimated that around 30 per cent of South Africans will suffer from mental disorders in their lifetime. The statement continued that globally, however, more than 70 per cent of people with mental illness don’t receive treatment and evidence shows factors such as lack of knowledge around identifying symptoms and assessing treatment, prejudice against people with a mental illness and the expectation of discrimination against people diagnosed with mental illness.

Masondo said at the event,

“I launched this initiative in partnership with Cipla, our main sponsors, which is aimed at educating South Africans on mental health and eradicating the stigma surrounding it in order to assist people.”

Clinical psychologist Sikanidier Kalla, lecturer and psychologist Anele Siswana and emergency medicine medical officer at Steve Biko Hospital Dr Amogelang Manganyi spoke about personality disorders, substance abuse, depression and masculinity disorders.

Dr Nonkukhanya Khanyile vice president of Mental Matters said, “I hope that through these talks, we can assist and help men regarding mental health. We often see woman opening about it and dealing with it, but men don’t. Men should never feel ashamed by this, hence why we chose an all-male panellist to assist in getting the message across that a mental illness lies within all of our society’s not just one group or race nor gender.”

Masondo said that with the help of their sponsor Cipla, they can now branch out into other provinces such as Cape Town and Durban to educate people, men in particular, about mental disorders.

Dr Amogelang Manganyi said depression could be a traumatic experience that affects men and women in all ways and also ‘breaks your spirit’. , “Depression is a disease that affects you mentally in your lifetime hereditary or not.”

Related article:

https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/220744/mental-health-road-recovery/