Mental Health
Health & Medicine
Facebook Programming and the Future of Our Society
The writer examines how social media, particularly Facebook, shapes public discourse in Cameroon by amplifying shock value over nuance, and how marketing logic—designed to capture engagement through virality—has colonised our collective sense of reality. The result is a society operating on misinformation and outrage rather than informed deliberation.
A Well of Greatness: One Woman's Journey from Body Shame to Self-Love
Enang Karen recounts her experience with body shaming from adolescence through university—the isolation, failed weight-loss attempts, and psychological toll—before finding liberation through self-acceptance and going on to compete in pageantry. The piece is a direct testimony to how internalized criticism can fracture identity, and how deliberate self-love can rebuild it.
Stigma and Silence: Epilepsy in Cameroon
A public health worker reflects on fieldwork with persons with epilepsy in Cameroon, documenting the severe social stigma—particularly against women—that compounds the medical burden of the condition. The piece asks why neurological disorder carries such different moral weight than other chronic illnesses, and calls for compassion over judgment.
Infertility and the Silence We Inherit
A physician's essay on infertility—its medical realities, its prevalence, and the social cruelty of intrusive questioning. The piece uses a domestic scene to illustrate how cultural pressure compounds medical struggle, and closes with a direct call for empathy.
The Luxury I Could Not Afford: Depression and Single Motherhood
A single mother recounts her battle with depression and post-natal grief following a friend's suicide, and how the responsibility of caring for her daughter became both her greatest burden and her anchor to survival. She reflects on the impossible choice between breaking down and pushing through, and ultimately channels her experience into founding the Young Mothers Initiative.
There is no health without mental health
A direct examination of mental health's absence from Cameroon's public health conversation, showing how cultural explanations—witchcraft, generational curses, divine punishment—have crowded out clinical understanding and left patients isolated. The piece frames mental health as both a human rights crisis and an economic one, and outlines concrete work underway to shift the conversation.
Understanding Anorexia Nervosa: Causes, Signs, and a Path to Recovery
This essay examines anorexia nervosa in detail—its psychological and social causes, the constellation of physical and mental symptoms sufferers experience, and concrete steps toward healing. It emphasizes that recovery is slow and that prevention requires rejecting fat-shaming and harmful weight-loss tactics.
Your Emotions Are More Important Than You Think
This reflective essay argues that emotional awareness and expression are essential to human flourishing, not signs of weakness. Through personal anecdotes—a toxic relationship, unrequited attraction, and self-discovery—the writer demonstrates how facing difficult emotions leads to growth, authentic connection, and better choices.
On the Bodily Consequences of Restraint: Holding In and Letting Go
A medical explainer examines the health effects of holding in urine and flatulence, moving from the serious (urinary tract infections, kidney stones, bladder dysfunction) to the comic (the social mortification of an ill-timed noise). The piece concludes that occasional restraint is harmless, but chronic suppression invites mild to moderate bodily trouble.
Mental Health in the Age of Disconnection
On Mental Health Awareness Week, Poise observes that despite material progress, suicide rates exceed war deaths globally, while social media amplifies young people's dissatisfaction. In Cameroon specifically, stigma and cultural taboos prevent open conversation about mental illness, leaving sufferers isolated.