Nigeria’s growing mental health conversation must look beyond visible crisis to the professionals, students and entrepreneurs who may be struggling while appearing to function normally.
By Gami Tadanyigbe
There is a particular kind of mental health struggle that can be difficult to recognise because, from the outside, everything appears to be going well. It is the executive who continues meeting targets despite being emotionally exhausted. The entrepreneur who keeps building despite mounting financial pressure. The student who attends lectures, submits assignments and maintains an active social life while privately struggling to cope. It is the professional who smiles through meetings and goes home overwhelmed.
Sometimes, distress does not look like distress, It looks like productivity.
“Functional performance does not necessarily mean psychological wellbeing,” says Dr Mohammed Audu, Founder and Executive Director of the DMA Foundation.
For Audu, this is one of the misconceptions Nigeria must confront as conversations around mental health and substance use become increasingly prominent.
The country is already beginning to broaden its understanding of mental wellbeing. In July 2026, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare announced plans to establish a Brain Health Desk under the National Mental Health Programme and commence development of Nigeria’s first National Brain Health Agenda.
The Ministry said the initiative would strengthen prevention, diagnosis, treatment and long term care, while positioning brain health as an important component of universal health coverage. The development is significant because it points towards a broader understanding of health, one in which mental and brain health are not treated as issues that only become important when a person reaches crisis point.
But policy is only one part of the equation. For many Nigerians, particularly young professionals, the pressures of everyday life remain intense. Financial uncertainty, unemployment and underemployment, academic pressure, business challenges, relationship difficulties and social expectations can all contribute to psychological distress.
Social media can add another layer, presenting carefully curated images of success at a time when many people are privately struggling to keep up.
Yet Audu cautions against reducing the issue to a simple relationship between stress and addiction.
“Financial pressure, unemployment, uncertainty, relationship difficulties, academic pressure and social expectations can contribute to psychological distress,” he says. “But we must be careful not to suggest that stress automatically causes addiction.” Substance use disorders, he explains, are multifactorial, involving biological, psychological, social and environmental factors.
That distinction is important, not everyone experiencing stress will develop a substance use disorder. Equally, someone does not have to lose their job, education, relationships or social standing before their mental health deserves attention.
One of the dangers, Audu says, is the assumption that someone must “look sick” before their distress is taken seriously. A person can be educated, employed, financially successful and socially respected while experiencing significant psychological difficulties. This can make early intervention harder.
Gradual changes may be dismissed as moodiness or stress. Withdrawal from family may be interpreted as normal adulthood. Declining performance may be blamed on laziness. Irritability may be dismissed as a personality problem.
None of these signs automatically means that someone has a mental health or substance use disorder but they may be reasons to pay attention.
Audu identifies persistent withdrawal, declining performance, absenteeism, sudden changes in social circles, unexplained behavioural changes, irritability, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, secrecy, changes in sleep and deteriorating relationships as some of the signs that families, schools and workplaces may overlook.
His emphasis, however, is not on diagnosis by observation. It is on creating an environment where people can ask for help.
“Early intervention is not an admission of failure; it is an investment in recovery,” he says.
That requires a cultural shift. For families, it may mean asking questions before issuing judgement. For employers, it may mean creating confidential pathways through which workers can access support. For universities, it may mean strengthening counselling, referral and wellbeing systems and for individuals, it may mean recognising that professional help is not evidence of weakness.
“Families should also learn to listen before they lecture,” Audu says. That is particularly important in a society where mental health remains surrounded by misconceptions and stigma.
Nigeria’s Mental Health Act, enacted in 2023, created a newer legal framework for mental healthcare and rights protection. But legislation alone cannot transform how people understand mental health.
People ultimately experience health policy through the services they can access, the professionals they can reach and the attitudes they encounter when they ask for help.
This is where the integrated approach advocated by DMA Foundation becomes relevant.
The organisation’s work encompasses substance use disorder treatment, psychotherapeutic and counselling care, mental health assessment and management, psychosocial rehabilitation, relapse prevention and recovery support, family counselling and reintegration support. The underlying philosophy is that mental health cannot always be separated from the environment in which a person lives.
“Mental health does not exist outside the social environment,” Audu says.
That environment includes family, work, education, relationships and community. Nigeria’s emerging brain health agenda therefore presents an opportunity to move beyond crisis response and towards prevention, early identification and accessible care.
The challenge is ensuring that mental health becomes part of ordinary healthcare conversations rather than something discussed only after a person has reached breaking point.
Because the person who needs help may not always be the person everyone can see struggling. Sometimes, it is the person sitting confidently across the conference table.
The person delivering the presentation, the person building the business, the person who looks like they are doing perfectly well.
About DMA Foundation
The Dr Mohammed Audu Foundation (DMA Foundation) is a Nigerian organisation focused on integrated mental health care, substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery. Its services include substance use disorder treatment, psychotherapeutic and counselling care, mental health assessment and management, psychosocial rehabilitation, relapse prevention and recovery support, family counselling and reintegration support.
Contact:
Website: dmaimpact.org
Email: dmafoundation01@gmail.com
WhatsApp: 09131252197
LinkedIn: The DMA Foundation
Facebook: DMA Foundation
Instagram: DMA Foundation
