Cape Town - An investigation into the mental health status of South Africans has found that one third of the nation suffers from mental illness and about 75% of them will not get help.

In an special investigation by the Sunday Times, the newspaper found that of the most vulnerable are juvenile patients who receive treatment in state facilities. They are housed in prison-like conditions and run the risk of being raped.

Dr Yusuf Moosa, head of clinical psychiatry at the University of the Witwatersrand, said that more than 17 million people in the country are dealing with mental health issues including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia and substance abuse.

However, the Department of Health spends only 4% - or R9.3bn - of its budget on addressing mental health illnesses.
Dr Melvyn Freeman, head of non-communicable diseases at the Department of Health, said government was aware of the problem but they had to keep it in context and that despite there being some mortality in mental health, thousands more were dying from illnesses such as HIV.

He said his department was not likely to get a marked increase in funding for mental health and instead innovative ways had to be found. In line with this, community workers, including priests and sangomas, are to be roped in to assist with out-of-hospital support for the mentally ill, reported the newspaper.

Twitter tool to help mental health services Australian researchers however, recently unveiled a Twitter tool to map moods around the world in real-time to help improve the allocation of mental health services.

The online tool, called We Feel, analyses up to 32 000 tweets per minute - about 10% of all English-language tweets - for 600 words that are then linked to emotions such as love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness and fear.

The data will be used to monitor the emotions of individuals and communities across different locations, and "ultimately predict when and where potentially life-saving services are required", said lead researcher Helen Christensen of Australia's Black Dog Institute, which researches and treats mood disorders such a depression.

"The power of this information cannot be underestimated. Currently, mental health researchers and associated public health programmes use population data that can be over 5 years old," the professor and director of the institute added. The large volume of data from Twitter - which says it has 255 million monthly active users worldwide - is analysed with the support of Australia's peak science body, the CSIRO, and internet giant Amazon's remote computing services.The We Feel tool can be accessed online.
-News24

Apatheist: I guess this explains their animalistic behaviours- rampant rape, xenophobia, violence, etc.

I hereby apologize to, and condone with all the south Africans in this forum-- RSa, EroZA, kgr28, voice filter, craigb, andrewza, etc - - I now understand your situation.

Apatheist: I guess this explains their animalistic behaviours- rampant rape, xenophobia, violence, etc.

I hereby apologize to, and condone with all the south Africans in this forum-- RSa, EroZA, kgr28, voice filter, craigb, andrewza, etc - - I now understand your situation.

slimthugchimee: lol una nodey serious

EroZA:
its Sunday,a holy day...dont you have something positive to write about in order to ease your frustration ?

Apatheist: I guess this explains their animalistic behaviours- rampant rape, xenophobia, violence, etc.

I hereby apologize to, and condone with all the south Africans in this forum-- RSa, EroZA, kgr28, voice filter, craigb, andrewza, etc - - I now understand your situation.

Apatheist:
I am neither religious nor spiritual.

I didn't write the article, did I?

EroZA:
ok juju man

Apatheist:
Juju?
I am atheist, I don't believe in any of that poo, Sangoma.

EroZA: What is atheist?

Apatheist:
Someone that is not enslaved mentally, and can think for him/herself.

But technically, an atheist is someone that doesn't believe in god/gods.

EroZA: You are complicated...

Apatheist:
Really? Most women like you find me quite simple.

EroZA: Do I sound like a woman?

jakiedudu: All4naija over to you.

paniki: Yes we are crazy. So what?

all4naija: How many times did you visit Hillbrow today to get a dose of your medicine from Nigerians? You i d i o t!

all4naija: How many times did you visit Hillbrow today to get a dose of your medicine from Nigerians? You i d i o t!

Apatheist:
Juju?
I am atheist, I don't believe in any of that poo, Sangoma.

kgr28: Owww you are Atheist, no wonder!!!!

Apatheist:
No wonder what, my Bantu friend?

kgr28:
No wonder you always dillutional!!

EroZA: Every nigerian wishes he/she was a south african,this is what a nigerian friend of mine based in jozi once told me,i did not believe when he told me but judging from the threads on this forum,am now conviced that these people are not happy with themselves,they country and what they have..

a Nigerian will do his best to show muscles by shouting,crying and lying ...in reality these people are cowards that's why they rather seek refuge in foreign lands than fight for their rights ...hey these people are good in insulting other people,all4kak from Abadan its your turn lets go 1212..

Apatheist:
It is spelt "delusional", my mentally disabled friend.
How am I delusional?

kgr28:
Hevent you notyced you are dillutional!?!

Apatheist:
Is errors in spelling your mental illness?