PSYCHIATRIC NURSE LINKS GBV TO MENTAL ILLNESS
ISSUES of gender-based violence can be linked to mental illness.
This was said by psychiatric nurse at Letsholathebe Memorial Hospital, Jocelyn Wellio, during the 16 days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, in Phuduhudu.
According to Wellio, 50% of abuse reported is emotional while 35% is assault and 25% sexual. All these cases of abuse leave invisible scars on the victim as it affects their mental health.
“The victims of genderbased violence tend to suffer from mental health issues, the most common conditions in victims are depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self-mutilation, sleep apnea, anxiety, rejection and stigma,” revealed Wellio.
Wellio further explained that they pick the element of gender-based violence when probing patients in a quest to establish the cause of the mental health problem as generally the victims do not report such incidents.
“Gender-based violence is there in our homes but we have concealed it. Reports have shown that out of seven women who are victims of GBV, only one of them will report. This is mainly because these women depend on their abuser,” added Wellio.
Although it is common that people suffer genderbased violence at the hands of their sexual partners, Wellio has told residents that GBV does happen even outside romantic relationships.
For his part, District No.5 Deputy Officer Commanding, Superintendent Molefhe Molefhe, revealed that it is difficult for them to tackle
GBV as the victims are hard to be convinced that they are being abused and therefore most incidents are undocumented.
According to Molefhe, as of 2019 to date, they have recorded a total of 566 genderbased violence cases which encompasses murder, assault, defilement, threat to kill and assault.
“Most cases are not reported, we are going for festive season and we believe by the end of December the cases will have increased, we have experienced such pattern of increase when the state of emergency was lifted,” explained Molefhe.
Molefhe has urged the community to report genderbased violence as harbouring perpetrators will only worsen the situation. He further encouraged them to utilise the gender and child protection branches across the country.