Q&A: Know yourself to better help others – psychologist

心理学家伊丽莎白·穆纳加（Elizabeth Mutunga）的父亲花了15年的时间才被诊断出患有阿尔茨海默氏病。

The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s affects memory, thinking and behaviour, and cases are increasing worldwide.

无处可去的支持,Mutunga decided to study the human mind, before going on in 2016 to set up阿尔茨海默氏症和痴呆症组织肯尼亚，现在帮助有60,000多人患有痴呆症。

Mutunga explains toscidev.nethow she came to realise that psychology was her calling.

您能简短地带我完成心理学的旅程吗？

父亲不适后，我对自己有很多愤怒，我不知道该怎么做。因此，我去了肯尼亚的一所大学提供咨询，并参加了证书课程。

Once I did my certificate I thought this is what I really want to do. I did a higher diploma. I realised this is where my calling is and finally I did my degree. It has been quite useful for me as an individual, even processing all the things that I went through with my dad, when he was unwell with dementia, and even personal issues in life. How to deal with uncertainties for example. It’s been much easier because of what I went through in my training.

Could COVID-19 have an impact on the future of dementia research, for example at your Alzheimer’s and Dementia Organization Kenya? How prevalent is Alzheimer’s in Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa?

Covid-19在带回我们方面发挥了重要作用。我们正在与大步（加强发展中国家对痴呆症的反应），但是我们计划在该领域做的许多工作必须停止。

就像在肯尼亚一样，没有数字。我们没有扎实的数字，尤其是在非洲，因为很多人仍然隐藏自己的亲人……这仍然是人们开始理解的条件。在肯尼亚，大约有61,000人患有这种情况，但我相信还有更多的人 - 我们拥有的人数是与组织接触的人。

心理学似乎是撒哈拉以南非洲研究的非正统选择，因为我们经常听到该地区的心理健康尚未得到很好的了解。但这是正确的，还是神话？

I think it is a myth. Because a lot of people who are studying psychology are women — there are men in the field, but a lot of women study psychology. And a lot of people feel it is quite important for them to understand themselves before they give services to others. So, a lot of people are going into the field of psychology and it’s becoming quite lucrative, especially now. So yes, there are a lot of people in the field. Because once you are self-aware about your own issues you are able to better help other people better.

关于心理学，如果您去某些农村地区（实际上是在某些城市地区），人们认为心理健康问题确实没有那么重要，不应给予太多关注。你同意吗？

的确，这就是感知。但是我认为这正在发生变化。如果我可以谈论肯尼亚，我注意到心理健康意识和心理健康领域正在做很多工作。人们了解“没关系是可以的”，这是非常重要的，这就是这句话，尤其是在肯尼亚。他们允许人们伸出援手，并且有一些数字，免费数字，如果他们遇到的问题，人们可以在这里打电话与某人交谈。因此，我认为它在随着时间的流逝而发生变化，但最初是的，从来没有想到它非常重要。人们认为，‘什么是精神疾病？掌握自己并为自己努力。’

事情正在发生变化。即使在农村地区，我也知道在某些地方，人们实际上可以去找帮助。他们实际上可以去医院，还有一名辅导员，还有心理学家。我知道卫生部甚至一直在雇用心理学家和辅导员来帮助经历心理健康问题的家庭。

When young people decide to study psychology, in some instances their parents would discourage them. Is this something you’ve come across?

这是我听到的这句话 - 实际上，我的老板实际上是在说一句话。When I told him I was doing psychology he said, ‘That is not a course.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Really?’ It’s just a misunderstanding, as soon as you say you’re a psychologist [people] become very self-aware and they’re like, ‘You’re reading my mind.’ A lot of people still think it’s not really an important course, but actually it’s needed, it’s a course that will help a lot of people, even the individual themselves.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.