BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– After South African actress and media personality Khanyi Mbau set tongues wagging with her theory of how people should stop confusing anxiety with an ancestral calling, locals have shared their views.
Speaking to long standing traditionalist and Chairman of the Witchdoctors Association Makhanya Makhanya, he said people in the country really needed to take care of their mental health.
He said references to mental illness can be found throughout history. In addition to that, Makhanya Makhanya said the evolution of mental illness, however, has not been linear or progressive but rather cyclical.
“Whether behaviour is considered normal or abnormal depends on the context surrounding the behaviour and thus changes as a function of a particular time and culture. In the past, uncommon behaviour or behaviour that deviated from the sociocultural norms and expectations of a specific culture and period has been used as a way to silence or control certain individuals or groups,” he said.
In addition to that, he mentioned that people really needed to take care of their mental health at all times because it was really important.
The chairman said they have had cases of people who were hallucinating or seeing things and when tracing back it was discovered that it was a mental problem.
Looking into Khanyi Mbau’s statements, Clinical Psychologist Innocentia Ndwandwe said the star may have some truth into it; she further commended her for raising a very important issue in a humorous way.
Ndwandwe, who is a practising Psychologist in Manzini, said everyone owed themselves a mental health day, where they look into their mental health. She said this right now was the right time to start as the year was just beginning.
Worth noting is that, Khanyi Mbau was sharing her views on her instagram stories that are accessed by over a million viewers.
“This is the most anxious generation. That is why we have so many Sangomas. Urban sangomas,” read her post.
She said anxiety was serious, so much one would swear they are called to dance to their ancestor’s drum.
Ndwandwe said although she would not attribute 100 per cent truth to the statement by Mbau but she knew for sure that depression, anxiety was the most chronic illness because it eats away a person’s willingness to live and adds confusion.
“As a mental health professional, I’m not endorsing her statement but I’m deriving my own truth from it and it is that, mental health is paramount and people should look into their mental health affairs before it is too late,” she said.
Another psychologist, Mayenziwe Khumalo, said there was a connection between ancestry and all forms of mental health sickness.
Khumalo said genetics may play a role in how likely one gets to get depression or anxiety. But they not the whole story.
“If someone in your family has either or both of these conditions, you are more likely to, as well. But it does not mean you definitely will. And you can have depression or an anxiety disorder even if no one else in your family does,” she said.
The psychologist said if a person believed in their ancestors more they were allowed to seek that form of help.
Khumalo said the most important thing is getting treatment for any mental health condition, whether it runs in the family or not. “If you do have relatives with anxiety, depression, or both, you will want to know the signs to watch for, what to do if you start to have them, and what you can do to lower your risk,” she said.
