A professor of psychiatry, Joseph Adeyemi, has said that no fewer than 800,000 people commit suicide yearly due to depression, yet policies on mental challenges remain archaic.
Professor Adeyemi, who spoke in Lagos at the presentation of the book Shadows in the Mirror: the Many Faces of Depression, written by Dr. Vivian Ikem, said the Mental Health Act, enacted in the 1900s, was last reviewed in 1959 despite medical improvements made over the years.
He said: “Our laws should keep up with current situations, but we have remained static; the way we were in 1959.”
