A Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Taiwo Obindo, has said that more Nigerians may be prone to developing mental health conditions due to the increasing economic hardship in the country.
Obindo, who is also the President of Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), stated this in Lagos on Wednesday.
He said that the current economic hardship, coupled with the level of poverty and other social factors in the country might likely inflict mental illness on more Nigerians.
He listed the social factors to include high cost of living, kidnapping, financial problems, inflation, child abuse, rape, broken homes and broken marriages, traumatic experiences and degrees of violence among others.
Dr Obindo explained that people who were predisposed to the social factors were more likely to develop mental health issues particularly this period the country was faced with lots of economic challenges.
According to him, the Nigerian society is a culture medium for organisms that put people at risk of mental illness.
Obindo, who identified poverty as a leading cause of mental health illness, said that many Nigerians were battling with poverty; saying that might predispose them to mental health conditions.