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Reverend Albright Asiwome Banibensu, registered psychologist, advised the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to use psychosocial interventions as a crucial part of meeting the general health needs of staff.
This, he said, would require GPS to employ more mental health professionals such as counseling psychologists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, among others to meet those needs.
Psychosocial interventions are any intervention that emphasizes psychological, behavioral, or social factors rather than biological factors, such as drug therapy.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Rev. Banibensu, who is the national vice president of the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), said that security forces personnel concealed suicidal tendencies because ‘they were seen as harsh and must act as such. .
Rev. Banibensu said this made “it hard for most staff to admit it when their psychosocial world is crumbling and even when they are reaching their limit, they still think they can hang on.”
As such, when they finally cross the line, they may find it difficult to ask for help as they may be seen as not being tough enough.
“What we need to know is that having psychosocial challenges doesn’t mean it’s not difficult. It just means that we are all human. The good news is that you can be treated when you have psychosocial and emotional health issues, ”he added.
The psychologist attributed another factor of suicide among the security services to their view of mental health.
He said security personnel feared a situation known as “medical boarding” if he were to be diagnosed with psychological distress.
Medical embarkation is the inability of an employee to work according to the demands of their job due to illness or injury.
He said if someone suffered from a mental health problem, he or she was likely to be medically interned or declared unfit for work.
This, he said, was likely to discourage anyone from presenting early enough to a psychologist or other mental health professional.
He said that because the mental health issues are progressive (get worse when left unmanaged), one is likely to get worse to the point of feeling completely hopeless.
Rev. Banibensu said it was important for the security services to recognize that while the Service needs officers who were at their peak of health, but who like to have a headache or malaria, one can also be in psychosocial and emotional distress.
“And the way in which a staff would go to the hospital to seek treatment for a physical food without necessarily being medically hospitalized, it is also the case for the problems that can lead to suicide. The easier it is for security personnel to access help without a medical pension, the better for their mental health.
He advised the media to be cautious in reporting suicide cases, as erroneous reporting on such a topic tended to lead to more suicide attempts – a condition known as the “Werther effect.”
“No image of what is used or can be used in a suicide attempt should be reported. No specific mention should be made of the instruments used to perform the act. Suffice it to say that a person committed suicide without going into the details of the process and what was used, ”he said.
He said recent suicide cases within the Ghana Police Service (GPS) tended to weaken overall morale in the service.
Rev. Banibensu said that feeling of hopelessness in itself can demotivate a person to perform their duties optimally.
He said that when an officer struggling with psychological issues was deployed, he or she might not complete the expected duties and this could make teamwork within the police department ineffective, which would have a negative impact. negative impact on the fight against crime.
“Their job is an already very stressful service with many unmet needs. So when people whom others admire and think they are fine end up killing themselves, others wonder what they can do better.
— GNA
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