Abstract

Nigeria as a third world country is struggling in terms of institutionalising the wholesome practice of taking care of people with psychiatric disorder.  It fails   also to come to terms with a total lack of commitment and world best practices on mental health disorder. Mental Health disorder is seen from a different angle and perceptive from what is obtainable in other countries. The underlying problem is cultural, socio-economic and inability of the government to address the seriousness of mental disorders which is in dire need of intervention which could be structured into all health facilities in the country. The inherent problems need new strategies to be put to use, to accommodate cultural and socio-economic gaps in third world countries. Culturally, the local people already had a traditional way to deal with certain disorders.  The most prevalent of the strategies is to first  assume that any  discussions of mental health problems or mental illness is taboo from the perceptive of most third world countries, due to a cultural perspective that mental illnesses signify being 'crazy' or 'mad. This however,  prevents families from seeking help because of fear of bringing shame on the family. One of the traditional strategies is community and relations based counselling, the second and more appalling is total abandonment of the victims to live off on the streets. This papers tries to look into a more holistic way to deal with the problem with new strategies.