9mobile, one of Nigeria’s telecom companies, has called for improved awareness of the impact of loneliness on mental health.
The telecom brand made the call at the 5th edition of its health talk series to mark the 2022 global mental health awareness week.
In line with its commitment to promoting mental health wellness, the telecom company organized a virtual session, with the theme: “Loneliness and Mental Health”.
It featured Dr. Chinonso Egemba, a certified medical doctor, writer, vlogger, and public speaker, popularly known as Aproko Doctor on social media.
In his presentation, Egemba said: “Loneliness is a bodily function and interestingly, human beings have come to realize the need to survive in groups.
“Therefore, loneliness can set in when the social interaction needs of an individual are not met. He emphasized that there is a difference between ‘loneliness’ and ‘being alone."
“Though the terms sound similar, they are totally different. Loneliness is a bodily function while being alone is a state of the mind.”
According to him, mental health conditions can lead to loneliness while loneliness can also lead to mental health conditions and vice versa.
Egemba said that no pinpoint cause had been traced to loneliness.
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However, certain groups of people were identified as being susceptible to loneliness, and they include people who overly kept to themselves, otherwise called introverts.
Egemba identified two types of loneliness, acute and chronic.
“Acute loneliness usually occurs suddenly and is temporal, while chronic loneliness can affect both the mental and physical health of an individual and usually last longer.’’
Commenting on the session, the Executive Director, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, 9mobile, Abdulrahman Ado, stated that sound mental health was critical to the overall wellbeing of an individual.
He said: “Mental health is one issue that needs to constantly be on the health front burner because of its impact on human lives."
“As a customer-centric brand that cares about the wellbeing of Nigerians, we are doing what we can to increase awareness through advocacy and ensure that the conversation around mental health is sustained."
“Hence the need for the 9mobile Health Talk Series."
“This time around we chose to look at the nexus between loneliness and mental health which the facilitator dealt with robustly,’’ he said.
According to him, the mental health awareness week is designed to drive conversation around mental health challenges and how to address it in the best interest and well-being of society.
