{"id":49662,"date":"2023-05-21T17:15:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T17:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2"},"modified":"2023-05-21T22:23:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T22:23:05","slug":"experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2","title":{"rendered":"Experts weigh in on rising gun violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Mental health experts in the country have said addressing mental illness is not enough to save the country from the surge in fatal gun violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe socio-economic situation is worsening in the country,\u201d says Dr Kenneth Kalani, a psychiatrist at the Health ministry. He says: \u201cSome people can cope with negative ways such as quarreling and violent acts, which are negative ways of coping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Stephen Okiror, a clinical psychiatrist at Butabika hospital, says gun violence could be birthed by \u201can emotional reaction.\u201d The violence has tied the country in knots, with 10 fatal shootings registered in the country in the past fortnight.<\/p>\n

READ:<\/b> Gun violence: The state is guilty<\/p>\n

\u201cMental illness has criteria for its diagnosis. Being violent when someone angers you doesn\u2019t qualify you to be diagnosed with mental illness,\u201d Dr Okiror says.<\/p>\n

Some bacterial infections, auto-immune diseases, brain (head) injuries, poor nutrition and exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment can trigger mental illnesses, according to scientists.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental illness is a bit strong as symptoms are consistent and they affect the daily life of the affected person,\u201d Dr Kalani notes.<\/p>\n

The symptoms of mental illness can include but aren\u2019t limited to depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder (mood swings), or schizophrenia (delusion and lack of motivation).<\/p>\n

Mental health problems on the other hand, Dr Kalani explains, are majorly those isolated (inconsistent) reactions to \u201cstressful circumstances in life such as hardship in accessing basic needs such as food and other social welfare such as paying school fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Kalani says people should be ready to handle challenges that come in life with resilience. The psychiatrist says a common challenge is that some stressed people don\u2019t know how to cope very well.<\/p>\n

He adds that as the socio-economic situation worsens in the country, people can cope in negative ways such as quarrelling and violent acts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOthers will keep quiet, start drinking alcohol, use drugs or resort to suicide and self-harm. These are negative ways of coping,\u201d the expert explains.<\/p>\n

Dr Kalani says Ugandans should be aware there are lots of changes and new challenging situations coming up.<\/p>\n

\u201cCovid-19 came then there was Ebola. These situations affect the survival [and livelihood] of people, and so survival instincts kick in,\u201d he explains, adding, \u201cSurvival instincts are primitive and sometimes the affected person can become violent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ali Male, a counselling psychologist at A-Z Professional Counselling Support Centre, concurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who grew up in violent families have unresolved anger and they don\u2019t know how to resolve conflicts peacefully. They only remember violent means. When you give them a gun, [they may use it to perpetrate gun violence],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cThe other issue is that exposure to gun violence is also a factor. Many soldiers have had that exposure \u2013some kind of fire exchange, those who went for war.\u201d<\/p>\n

The psychologist explains that this exposure impacts on mental health because it alters brain chemicals, leading to chronic insecurity, stress and trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch things, if they are not resolved within the soldier, can always trigger anger,\u201d Mr Male says.<\/p>\n

Some mental health experts also say those with severe mental illness are less likely to commit crime. Instead, they are, Mr Male says, \u201cmore likely to harm themselves than they are to hurt other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experts, however, say the government and communities should do more to address the problem of mental illness and mental health problems.<\/p>\n

Dr Kalani believes \u201ceveryone should be their brother\u2019s keeper\u201d, adding that the common symptoms are when you notice that somebody is changing from the normal, beginning to withdraw, beginning to get angry and having frequent anger outbursts.<\/p>\n

The other symptoms, include having challenges with sleep, poor feeding habits, having trouble concentrating, and relating with other people, and being irritable, among others.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Mental health experts in the country have said addressing mental illness is not enough to save the country from the surge in fatal gun violence. \u201cThe socio-economic situation is worsening in the country,\u201d says Dr Kenneth Kalani, a psychiatrist at the Health ministry. He says: \u201cSome people can cope with negative ways […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-49662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts weigh in on rising gun violence - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mental health experts in the country have said addressing mental illness is not enough to save the country from the surg ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts weigh in on rising gun violence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mental health experts in the country have said addressing mental illness is not enough to save the country from the surg ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-21T17:15:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-21T22:23:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/05\/sm_1684677960.889541.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Experts weigh in on rising gun violence\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-21T17:15:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-21T22:23:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/05\/sm_1684677960.889541.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-weigh-in-on-rising-gun-violence-2\",\"name\":\"Experts weigh in on rising gun violence - 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