Let’s guard families to keep stress at bay

The sad story of the Thika woman who was found dead in her house after nine months raises disturbing questions about family ties.

 How, for instance, would a person go for nine months without making a call to their mother or making time to visit her, even over festivities like Christmas? What could make a son send money to a parent without checking in on them?

In the past, family ties were strong and not taken for granted, with children routinely spending time upcountry with their grandparents during school holidays. With the changing nature of society — where gadgets and Internet have replaced the human touch — this trend is dying because children do not feel comfortable in environments that do not allow them to access the Internet or spend hours on their gadgets.

The result is that the family bonds that kept relatives together over the years have weakened and this, to an extent, is partly to blame for the rising cases of mental illnesses. It is disturbing, for instance, to learn that four in ten Kenyans suffer from mental health challenges.

Experts like Dr Anders Hansen, in his book, The Happiness Cure, have argued that weakened family bonds are to blame for mental illnesses because people spend less time talking, sharing, laughing and touching one another. Because of these, more people in the current generation feel lonely and isolated, leading to an increase in the number of people suffering from depression.

Only this week, Medical Services Permanent Secretary Harry Kimutai revealed that Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi — the only public hospital of its kind in Kenya — is overstretched and doctors there are no longer in a position to cope with the rising number of mental illnesses.

This calls for experts and policy makers to go back to the drawing board and find out what has gone wrong with structure of the family and where the social fabric that held relatives together are fraying. It is also important to put in place measures to address the mental health challenges that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic when people lost loved ones and were forced to isolate because this, too, has had a big impact on mental health.

Even as the government races to address the cost of living and end political protests, it must not lose sight of the huge challenge that is posed by rising cases of anxiety and depression.

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