Recent Developments in the Care, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of the Chronic Mentally Ill in Nigeria

Nigeria, with a population estimated at 80 million, has fewer than 100 psychiatrists and psychologists and only 20 psychiatric facilities. Most chronic mental patients are cared for by their relatives, by traditional healers, or by religious healers affiliated with the new Christian churches, which have proliferated ifl recent years. Lack of organized social welfare services makes the family the only consistent source of social support for the mentally ill; patients who lose contact with their families often become homeless wanderers. Although the majority of the mentally ill in Nigena are cared for outside the mental health system, recent developments, such as the establishment of mobile clinics and village-based psychiatric units, show great potential or advancing the treatment of chronic mental illness in Nigeria.