Voices In My Head (Mental Health)

Everybody has some form of mental illness, some people are just more affected by it than others. Ultimately mental illness forms part of trying to figure out why you’re on this earth. We all have some parts of our lives that were in some way traumatic and changed the course of the way we think and behave and by and large the way we maneuver through life. Just like physical health, you can’t retain mental health without deliberate conscious effort.

What influences mental health?
Your habits/lifestyle, environment and genetics 🧬 all play a role. Habits/lifestyle have to do with the activities you engage in and the substances you may ingest. Environment is mostly concerned with what you're exposed to such as suffering or abuse and how it increases your vulnerability to mental health challenges. Genetics, well, like much of everything else we inherit can impact your mental health. You have to make do with the cards you've been dealt.

What are the most common mental health challenges?
Bipolar disorder 😁🥺
This is a mental health disorder that results in dramatic mood swings from emotional highs to emotional lows and vice versa.
Possible cause: stress, substance abuse, alcohol, genetics

Depression😢
A lingering feeling of sadness and worthlessness.
Possible cause: stress, abuse, other adverse emotional occurrences in life, alcohol, genetics

Anxiety
A state of constantly being nervous and worrying.
Possible cause: stress and adverse life experiences, genetics

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A common outcome for anyone that's experienced a traumatic event that continues to 'haunt' you. As a result your behavior and attitude towards certain situations changes.
Possible cause: stress and any past event that was physically (abuse, assault) or emotionally traumatic for you

Schizophrenia
A sustained state of psychosis where you're out of touch with reality. This condition comes with delusional thinking and hallucinations coupled with uncommon and often unpredictable behavior.
Possible cause: your environment, substance abuse, genetics

How to avoid getting too far gone
Meditate 🧘🏽‍♂️🧘🏽‍♀️ for 20 minutes daily to silence the voices in your head. If you can’t keep them quiet at least you can become aware of them and retain control of your own mind.

Get help 📞 when the voices get overwhelming. Contact Mutale Kabumbu (+260973090988), a qualified psychotherapist with practical experience if you need someone to talk to. Alternatively, Kim Boon from mental chatter is an international option for those that may have this preference.

Avoid substances💊💉. Those prone to loud, dominating voices should steer clear of any illicit substances (weed, injectables, powder or pills you don’t fully understand) that alter your brain’s normal functioning and thought pattern generation. This includes all recreational drugs & alcohol🥃🍻. I vividly recall a horrible experience of being tricked into ingesting the popular ‘weed cookies & muffins’ 🍪🥧at a social event. Hmmm. Mwebantu nina funta (I lost my sanity) for a FULL 24 hours. Can you imagine being alive to the fact that you’ve gone mad for hours on end? Anyway, I eventually got my mind back but some people can’t say the same. Get ‘lit’ on the wrong things uza funtilatu (you’ll stay mad/high perpetually) and you'll live the rest of your YOLO life in a straitjacket. Don’t play those games. With regards to alcohol many of you can testify to bearing witness to complete personality shifts in your friends after a few drinks. These are often negative with some people becoming championship level fighters and others complete maniacs. Don’t think this can’t be you, mind your liquor.

Avoid people whose energy irritates your spirit. Some people give the devil real estate 🏡in your mind and spirit. Your mental well-being should not be up for auction in the name of tolerance. Avoid them.

Pray for peace🙏🏾. Many of our mental health challenges stem from past traumatic events and the result is ma ganizo daily (excessive negative thinking). Talk to Him about it and unshackle yourself. You’ll feel better and think clearer.

Watch what you listen to 🎶and watch 📺. Guard your mind as what you allow in via consumption starts to dominate your thinking and thus affect your mental health. Gangster rap has the ability to turn boys raised in a church into narcissistic thugs. Sad songs will turn you into a miserable heap and consolidate your bitterness and sorrow. Movies and series🎥created to entertain can make you start directing your own movie in real life by thinking you’re El Chapo if you’re not careful.


Don’t be negligent about mental health. Sometimes you see people acting out and assume they’re just difficult when really their mental health is simply failing them. That difficult human being might be you. Sometimes it's hormones at play. For those that can identify mental health shortcomings in others be mature enough to accommodate them and not be dismissive. They're tortured people that need your patience, empathy and support.