The season finale of Castle Milk Stout Black Conversations 02 sees the panelists discussing the controversial and intricate subject of Mental Health, which is aimed at understanding the concept of mental health from an African point of view.
The panelists in this episode are actress and philanthropist, Sophie Ndaba; actress and singer, Soso Rungqu; television presenter, Siyabonga Ngwekazi; businessman and author, Banele Rewo and actress, Khanyi Mbau.
The panelists start the conversation by each explaining how they understand the concept of mental health to which Banele boldly stated that mental health is a new phenomenon in the black community, and it is one that black people do not understand, hence the different explanations and understanding amongst the panelists.
The misconception around mental health particularly in the black communities runs deep within the lineage. It is a generational disability that is only being attended to and corrected now.
Sophie supports this notion by putting it to the panelists that her mother passed away because of mental health issues.
“She was going through a lot and never spoke to anyone; she never even spoke to me. She suffered in silence and in doing that she could not teach me the importance of communication because she never did it,”
said Sophie.
Disagreeing with the notions that had been presented to the panellists, Khanyi Mbau put forward two controversial points which seemed to rile up fellow panellist, Soso Rungqu.
She stated that black people are not depressed, they just don’t not know who they are and that the tools that are there to manage mental health issues are superficial and in fact, depression or any other mental health disorder requires isolation and self-introspection.
“Why do we always feel like we need to be in control? There comes a time when you won’t do your hair, you will have pimples, and you won’t always look the way you should. In that entire experience, no one owes you anything”
said Mbau.
Siyabonga wraps up episode five by shedding some light on the matter that had been debated by the panellists and states that a huge part of the mental health issues faced in black communities is attributed to the disconnect from their origins.
“When you diagnose me with depression, make sure the diagnoses and the treatment have been run through my lineage,”
said Ngwekazi
Episode six sees an attempt at deciphering where mental health became a problem in the black communities to which the answer was that it dates back to the apartheid era. With the abuse and oppression that occurred during that era, mental issues arose in the black community.
Even if individuals can be equipped with the tools to tackle and combat mental health issues, there seems to be a pattern of history repeating itself in that the issues keep affecting generations down the line to which Banele suggests the prioritisation of family structures as a possible remedy.
The concept of a rigid family structure, where households household must have a father, mother and children believed to be a Westernised standard according to Khanyi Mbau and because of this Westernised imposition, women find themselves playing both roles of the mother and the father which in the grander scheme of things has contributed to men being unable to find their roles in society and has seen an increasing amount of mental health issues amongst men.
Siyabonga agrees with this notion by stating that
“we have forced our women to become leaders because we were not man enough to become leaders”.
The season finale comes to an end panelists agree that there is no formula to combat mental health, however after you have gone through it, it is imperative to introspect, identify the learnings and impart that knowledge to others.