Men Conceal Mental illness for Fear of Descrimination

Experts in mental health are asking the population  to support men  who develop mental health challenges to get treatment rather than mocking them. 

Speaking  at the ongoing medical expo at Uganda manufacturers association (UMA)show grounds  Dr Raymond Odokonyero, a psychiatric from Makerere University said men  conceal mental illness for fear of making fun of them and likening them to women.

 "Don't mock  them about what they're saying and  how they're feeling,  we have often had people saying you want to talk about your feelings like a woman ,its okay for men to talk about their feelings and break down and cry"  ,Dr Odokonyero said.

According to Odokonyero early  symptoms you can easily detect that a man is loosing  mental wellness, include lack of sleep, lack of appetite, getting annoyed over small things for a long time, losing interest in things he wanted most such as watching football,among others.

Research has indicated that Men  have poor health seeking behavior ,they only seek for help when there badly off.

A number of health care institutions are show casing their services to the public in a medical expo organized by Medxpo Africa at Lugogo UMA show grounds in Kampala. 

The head of Patients education at  Medxpo Africa Dr Salwapha Nabukera Renzaho  says they organised this medical expo after realizing that many Ugandans   self medicate   due to lack of health information and others tend to  get the  misleading information from the internet.

She said  during the expo the population is  able to interact with specialists and get the right information on where they can get  the right treatment.