Most Guyanese know the name Baby Arthur. His given name was Hubert Headley. On December 9, 1994, between the Buxton and Friendship villages, on the East Coast of Demerara, he used a cutlass to take the lives of six people and a dog. He also injured a few others. He was shot and killed by the police on the same day.
Baby Arthur, who was once a soldier, had become a drug addict and suffered from mental illness. I remember him well. While attending the Friendship Primary School, I would often see him on my way to or from school. I was always afraid of him because his eyes were always wild and he walked at a quick pace. I would always cross the road and hasten my footsteps when I saw him approaching. So, when the tragedy occurred, I, a pre-teen at the time, was not surprised.
A few weeks ago a murder occurred in Corentyne, Berbice. Jainarine Balgobin, also known as Payo, took a machete from a mandir near his home and went into Bhumattie Delall’s yard and severed her head. It was also reported that his family was advised to take him to seek treatment for mental illness, but that they paid no heed to the advice. Jainarine later said that ‘Master,’ a deity, instructed him to kill the woman.
There are many other instances where mental illness resulted in devastating consequences. Often, the offenders would have made threats in advance but they would have been taken lightly.
This week, a woman assaulted me. I spoke to someone to whom she is close and, somehow, it displeased her and her reaction was to hit me. I retaliated. When one is enraged, there is often little or no time to think about consequences or to entertain thoughts about non-violence. After the incident, I learned that a few weeks ago she had attacked another person. It was also revealed that her behaviour suggests that she might be having a mental breakdown.
“So why have her loved ones not taken her to get help?” I wondered, “Why wait for another person to be attacked and what if it was worse?”
A feeling of uneasiness overcame me when I thought about the possibilities of violence and even greater harm from persons suffering psychological diseases. This is a feeling that I have experienced before while witnessing or feeling threatened by the behaviour of violent mentally ill people on the streets, but the attack on me occurred within the confines of an office. I started thinking of ways to protect myself and it stirred in me a new sense of caution.
There is an abundance of evidence that many Guyanese do not appreciate the severity of mental illness or cannot grasp it. As a society, we often make light or ignore situations that make us uncomfortable. Many times, we smile or laugh to cover the pain or uneasiness.
Someone acting erratically is often referred to as mad in jest. In addition to those whose sickness results in verbal exchanges with themselves or some invisible subject, there are also the folks who suffer silently by managing to keep up appearances.
Sometimes folks would look at a person with mental illness and say things like “She does go and come,” or “He is a silent crazy” or “She head ain good.” Mentally ill people are called “crazy, lunatic, psycho, psychopath,” sometimes in disgust and sometimes in anger. There are instances when they would be teased and many of them are often assaulted.
As a society, the time has long expired for more of us to familiarize ourselves with the causes and consequences of mental illness and to determine what part we can play in the overall fight. People who suffer deserve our empathy. And even when we empathize, we cannot fully comprehend their struggles unless we have walked in their shoes.
“I had days of depression and was scared to come out my house ’cause I felt like jumping in front of a car,” a friend, who suffers from bipolar disease, said to me.
Bipolar disease is described as manic depression involving drastic shifts in mood and energy.
Many of us encounter serious issues but we would never think of jumping in front of a car or harming ourselves in any other way.
The man who killed the woman in Berbice said ‘Master’ told him to do it. Most of us don’t hear voices talking to us and even if we do, we would never dream to carry out the wishes of those voices. Sadly, many times mental illness is dismissed as being caused by some mystical force and little is done to help.
“She gah demon” or “Somebody do he,” are reasons I have heard too many times. Often, the response is “We got to pray fuh he” or “She needs deliverance.”
Last week, I was part of an outreach at Buxton Secondary School in Friendship and I was happy and surprised that there were a number of psychologists involved from the Guyana Psychological Association. I felt encouraged because I thought people suffering from various forms of mental illness now have more human resources available to them. But the issue of confidentiality also entered into my mind. People have complained that they cannot trust many professionals who are supposed to be helping them, especially when it comes to interventions like counselling. Issues, such as files being left for John Public to peruse or their affairs being discussed outside of the counselling room, are common complaints. Sadly, this leads to many people who need help suffering in silence.
It is time we start teaching our young that people who we usually tell them are crazy, are in fact sick and deserve compassion. We need to start teaching them to not taunt such people or otherwise abuse them. This is also a lesson that needs to be learned by many adults.
It is also time that relatives and friends of people who are mentally ill take them to professionals so that they can access the help they need. And those professionals who carelessly talk about their patients or leave their files to be read have to remember the oath of confidentiality. The issues concerning mental health are not to be handled negligently but with vigilance.
Perhaps if Hubert, also known as Baby Arthur, Jainarine, also known as Payo, and the many other people who committed heinous crimes because of mental illness had gotten the help they needed, the results would have been different.
If you or someone you know is suffering, please seek help immediately, even if it means just talking to someone.
