Nigeria must intensify war against depression – Foundation

The Tabitha-Abimbola Foundation has underscored the importance of a collective action and a renewed war against depression, anxiety and loneliness among vulnerable people, especially widows and single mothers.

At its first Valentine’s Day Therapy Session with widows and single mothers on Friday in Lagos, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Mrs. Abimbola Agbebiyi, said that managing depression requires urgent attention in Nigeria.

She said: “We may not really have precise statistics or data backing up the number of widows and single mothers that have been depressed in Nigeria.

“But we know that a significant number of Nigerian women are actually experiencing depression every day. And we all know what it is when a woman loses her spouse. Apart from the challenges that come with grieving the partner, there are responsibilities to carry.”

Agbebiyi said that a number of widows committed suicide a year after the passing of their husbands.

She added: “It is even learnt that out of 600 widows, about 30 or 10 would want to end their lives, wanting to commit suicide maybe a year after they lost their husband.”

“Depression is more like one of the pronounced challenges they go through. The government, corporate organisations and good spirited individuals must wage war against the spread.”

Agbebiyi said that the event became important on Valentine’s Day to prevent depression in widows and single mothers who did not have any spouse to share love with.

She said that privileged Nigerians should not wait until they possess millions to help people going through depression as a result of the current economic hardship.

Agbebiyi, who noted that the two-year-old foundation was open to partnership to reach more people, said the participants at the event were drawn from five different communities in Lagos.

She said that the foundation would be holding a monthly widows meeting to help address the problem of depression and loneliness among them.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Managing Depression, Anxiety and Loneliness’, the guest speaker and mental health expert, Mr. Marcellinus Aguwa, said widows and single mothers might be faced with the feelings of withdrawal, hopelessness and worthlessness.

Aguwa, a Clinical Psychologist, Federal Neuropsychiatric, Hospital, Yaba, said that widows and single mothers needed to be given hope and support to prevent depression.

“They will be having this thought of what the future holds for them. They need the support because it will help them to live on, carry on with their life and then not relent,” Aguwa said.

A participant, 32-year-old widow of seven years and mother of two, Mrs. Bakilis Kazeem, who became emotional, appreciated the foundation for the gesture.

“I have been struggling to make sure that my children go to school and become successful. I go about washing clothes, fetching water for people and doing other house chores to survive,” the widow said.