Our services
I H U M U R E
Get to know more of what we have to offer
01.
Educational Resources
Educational resources offer a way for people to be able to learn more about what mental health is and the conditions that come with it. You can use these resources for yourself or to help others. While the resources give you information, it’s not a way for you to self-diagnose. We strongly suggest for you to reach out to a psychiatrist if you need a diagnosis.
02.
Support
Many factors contribute to recovery, including having a support system. Be it your friends, family or even complete strangers. As long as you know that you aren’t on this journey alone.Â
03.
Chatrooms
You may not be ready to visit a therapist yet or want to talk to others about what you’re going through, talking to others through online communities can be of help. Ihumure offers platforms for people to be able to share their thoughts either privately or collectively as a group on our chatrooms.
Have a Look at some of the
Mental health conditions
Depression
A constant sense of hopelessness and despair is a sign you may have major depressive disorder or clinical depression. It affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing day-to-day activities and sometimes you may feel as if life isn’t worth living.
More than just about of the blues, depression isn’t a weakness and you can’t simply “snap out” of it. Depression may require long term treatment. But don’t get discouraged. Most people feel better with the help of psychotherapy(talk therapy), medication or both.
Depression is common all over the world. The World Health Organization estimates that about 3.8% of population is affected, including 5.0% among adults and 3.9% among 10-19 year olds.
Depression can come in many forms. Here are some of the types:
Major depressive disorder: or clinical depression has intense or overwhelming symptoms that are present for more than 2 weeks. These symptoms interfere with everyday tasks.
Perinatal and postpartum depression: “Perinatal” means around birth and “Postpartum” means after birth. Perinatal depression is a kind of depression that occurs during pregnancy or in the first year after giving birth where as Postpartum depression(PPD) is strong feelings of sadness, anxiety and tiredness that lasts for a longer period of time after giving birth. These feelings can make it hard for you to take care of yourself and your baby. It can occur anytime after childbirth. But Postpartum Depression isn’t your fault. It doesn’t make you any less of a good mother or person. With treatment everything gets better.
Psychotic depression: People with psychotic depression have severe depressive symptoms and delusions or hallucinations. Delusions are beliefs in things that are not based in reality, while hallucinations involve seeing, hearing or touched by things that aren’t actually there.
Substance-induced mood disorder: Is when symptoms happen while a person is taking a drug or drinking alcohol or after you stop.
During depressive episodes, symptoms occur most of the day, nearly everyday and may include:
- Feeling sadness or emptiness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities
- Lack of sleep or you even sleep too much
- Feeling restless or slowed down
- Angry outbursts even over small matters
- Fatigue
- Suicidal thoughts or attempts
- Feelings of unworthiness, helplessness and guilt
While these symptoms are common, not everyone with depression will have the same ones. Their severity, how frequent they occur and how long they last can vary.
Some common triggers or causes of major depression include:Â
- Loss of a loved through death (grief), divorce or separation
- Major life changes-- moving, job change, graduation and retirement
- Pregnancy loss
- Social isolation
- Personal conflicts in relationships either with a partner or superior
- sexual or emotional abuse
- Serious illnesses
- Substance misuse
There is no clear answer to what can cure or prevent depression just yet. But, if you already have depression you can prevent it from getting worse. For instance, sticking to the treatment plan and avoiding situations or people that bring you down. You can listen to music, podcasts, watch movies or even pray just as long as you have a “happy” place that you can escape to in order to avoid feeling down.
Anybody who thinks or talks about harming themselves should be taken seriously. Do not hesitate to call the Rwandan suicidal crisis hotline 8015 or contact a mental health professional ASAP.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal emotion, experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life, it is OKAY! People with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear of everyday situations. You may worry when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision.
You may avoid certain places or situations to prevent these feelings. Symptoms may start during childhood or the teen years and continue to childhood.
Some of these symptoms include:
- Feeling tense or nervous
- Having a sense of imminent danger or doom
- Breathing heavily
- Trembling
- Feeling weak or tired
- Difficulty controlling worry
- Pounding heartbeat
- Thinking about a problem over and over again and unable to stop
Here some of the types of anxiety disorders:
Generalized anxiety disorder: You feel excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events and even ordinary routines. The worry might be difficult to control and affects how you feel physically. It often occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression.
Panic disorder: You feel sudden, intense fear that brings on a panic attack. You may have feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a rapid pounding heartbeat. These panic attacks may lead to worrying about them happening again or avoiding situations in which they’ve occurred.
Social anxiety disorder: This is when you feel overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. You obsessively worry about being judged or viewed negatively by others.
Specific phobias: You feel intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as heights or flying. The fear goes beyond as to make you desire to avoid ordinary situations.
Medication-induced anxiety disorder: Use of certain medications or illegal drugs, or withdrawal from certain drugs, can trigger some symptoms of anxiety disorder.
Separation anxiety: Anyone can get separation anxiety. If you do, you’ll feel very anxious or fearful when a person you’re close with leaves your sight. You worry that something bad might happen to your loved one.
The causes of anxiety aren’t fully understood. Life experiences such as traumatic events appear to trigger anxiety disorders in people who are already prone to anxiety. Inherited traits also can be a factor same goes for medical issues.Â
But with treatment, whatever form of anxiety you have you can be able to manage your feelings.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD is a chronic condition that affects millions of children and often continues into adulthood. It is a brain disorder that affects how you pay attention, sit still, and control your behavior. ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed in children. Intriguingly, boys are more likely to have it than girls. It’s usually spotted during the early school years, when a child begins to have problems paying attention.
Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD) is an old name for ADHD. It was officially changed in the 1990s. Some people use both names to talk about this one condition.
While treatment won’t cure or prevent ADHD, it can help with a great deal of symptoms. Some of those symptoms include:
- Easy distraction
- Not paying attention and making careless mistakes
- Often losing things
- Tends to daydream
- Being unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings.
- Impulsiveness
- Easily frustated
- Trouble concentrating when reading
While the exact cause of ADHD is not clear, several things might lead to it. Including:
- Genes: sometimes ADHD tends to run in the family.
- Brain changes: Areas of the brain that control attention are less active in children with ADHD.
- Maternal drug use, alcohol use or smoking during pregnancy.
- Toxins, such as lead: They may affect a child's brain development as well.
- A brain injury or a brain disorder: Damage to the front of the brain, can cause problems controlling impulses and emotions.
There are several approaches to treating ADHD. Many symptoms can be managed with medication and therapy. Close cooperation among therapists, doctors, teachers, and parents is very important.
Substance Use Disorder
Substance use disorder isn’t something that should be taken lightly. It occurs when you use alcohol, prescription medicine, and other legal or illegal substances too much or in the wrong way.  People with SUD have intense focus on using a certain substance(s) to point where the person’s ability to function in a day-to-day life becomes impaired. SUD can sometimes be referred to as drug addiction and when addiction occurs you continue to use the substances despite the harm they may cause.Â
Substance abuse differs from addiction. Many people with substance abuse problems are able to quit or can change their behavior. Addiction on the other hand is a disease. It means you can’t stop using when your condition causes you harm.Â
Substance abuse can start with experimental use of a recreational drug in social situations or peer pressure, and for some people, the drug use becomes more frequent. And in other cases, particularly opioids, drug addiction begins with exposure to prescribed medications, or receiving medications from a friend or relative who has been prescribed the medication. The risk of addiction and how fast you become addicted varies by drug. Some drugs, such as opioid painkillers, have a higher risk and cause addiction more quickly than others.
Repeated substance use can cause changes to how your brain functions. These changes can last long after the immediate effects of the substance wears off or in other words, after a period of intoxication. Intoxication is the intense pleasure, euphoria, calm, increased perception and sense, and other feelings that are caused by the substance. As time passes, someone with a substance use disorder, usually build up a tolerance to the substance, meaning they need larger amounts to feel the effects.
Signals that may have a problem with substance abuse include if you:Â
- Lack of interest in the things you used to love
- Displaying lack of self control
- Change in friends a lot
- Eat more or less than usual
- Bloodshot eyes or looking tired
- Have intense urges for the drug to block out any other thoughts
- Crave or strongly desire to use the substance
- Stealing or selling things to continue your addictive behaviors
Like many other mental health disorders, several factors may contribute to the development of drug addiction. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, people begin taking drugs for a variety of reasons, Including:
- To feel good: feeling of pleasure, "high" or "intoxication."
- To feel better: relieve stress, forget problems or feel numb.
- To do better: improve performance or thinking.
- Curiosity and peer pressure or experiment.
There is no exact cure for drug addiction. People can manage and treat addiction. Even for the most severe cases treatment can help. Often detoxification, medication-assisted therapies and behavioral therapies really do make differences, but there is always a risk that the addiction might return. Managing substance use disorder is lifelong job. You may need help from your doctor, family, friends and support groups or an organized treatment program to overcome your drug addiction and stay drug free.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD, once called shell shock or battle fatigue syndrome, is a serious condition that can develop after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic or terrifying event in which there was serious physical harm or threat. PTSD is a lasting consequence of traumatic ordeals that cause intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Examples of things that can bring on PTSD include sexual or physical assault, the unexpected death of a loved one, an accident, war or natural disaster.Â
Most people go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms persist, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.Â
Symptoms of PTSD fall into the following four categories. Specific symptoms can vary in severity or vary from person to person.
- Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event.
- Avoidance: The person may avoid places, people, thoughts or situations that may remind them of the traum
- Negative changes in cognition and mood: This refers to thoughts and feelings related to blame(yourself or others), estrangement and memories of the traumatic event.
- Changes in physical and emotional reactions: Also called arousal symptoms, may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; behaving recklessly or in self-destructive way; being overly watchful of one's surroundings in a suspecting way.
Consulting your doctor or mental health professional and getting treatment can help prevent or manage PTSD symptoms from getting worse. If you or someone you know are having suicidal thoughts don’t hesitate to get help right away, through the suicidal crisis hotline 8015.
In Rwanda, the effects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi led to a tremendous loss of lives. A previous study showed that 70.4% of Rwandans had experienced at least one traumatic event as a result of Genocide. Another study suggests that only about 35% kept showing increasing signs of PTSD and 26.1% of the Rwandan population. The PTSD prevalence among genocide survivors is considerably higher compared to the general Rwandan population. PTSD has declined significantly over time, likely due to treatment of symptoms through medication and many different ways of therapy.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is a mental illness that causes repeated unwanted thoughts and sensations(obsessions) or the urge to do something over and over again(compulsions). Some people can have both obsessions and compulsions. These obsessions and compulsions interfere with daily activities and cause significant distress.
OCD is so much more than just about habits like biting your nails or thinking negative thoughts. An obsessive thought might be that certain numbers or colors are “good” or “bad.” A compulsive habit might be to wash hands seven times after touching something that could be dirty. Although you may try to ignore or stop your obsessions, but that only increases your distress and anxiety. Ultimately, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to try to ease your stress.
You may or may not realize that your obsessions and compulsions are excessive or unreasonable, but they take up a great deal of time and interfere with your daily routine and social, school or work functioning. OCD can come in many forms, but most cases fall into at least one of four general categories:
- Checking: such as locks, alarms systems, ovens, or light switches, or thinking you have a medical condition like pregnancy or schizophrenia.
- Contamination: a fear of things that might be dirty or a compulsion to clean. Mental contamination involves feeling like you've been treated like dirt.
- Ruminations and intrusive thoughts: an obsession with a line of thought. Some of these thoughts might be violent or disturbing.
- Symmetry and ordering: the need to have things lined up in a certain way.
Causes of OCD aren’t fully understood. Doctors are yet to discover why some people have OCD and others don’t. But stress or even genetics tend to play a role in worsening symptoms.
OCD usually begins in the teen or young adult years, but it can also start in childhood too. Symptoms usually begin gradually and tend to vary in severity throughout life. OCD, usually considered a lifelong disorder, can have mild to moderate symptoms or be so severe and time-consuming that it becomes disabling.
There’s a difference between being a perfectionist — someone who requires flawless results or performance — and having OCD. OCD thoughts aren’t simply excessive worries about real problems in your life or liking to have things clean or arranged in a specific way. OCD can affect your daily life and daily activities. When these obsessions and compulsions start influencing your day-to-day decisions it is very advisable to visit your doctor.
If you have OCD, you may be ashamed and embarrassed about the condition, but treatment like psychotherapy and medications can be effective.
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a mental illness that brings severe mood shifts and changes in sleep, energy, thinking and behavior.
People with bipolar disorder can have periods in which they feel overly happy and energized(mania or hypomania)Â and other periods of feeling very sad, hopeless, and sluggish. In between episodes they usually feel normal. These types of mood swings are the ones that majorly affect the change in sleep, energy, activity and behavior as a whole.
The word “manic” describes the times when someone with bipolar disorder feels overly excited and confident. These feelings can also involve irritability and impulsiveness of reckless decision making. About half of people during mania can also have delusions or hallucinations.
“Hypomania” describes milder(less extreme) symptoms of mania, in which someone does not have delusions or hallucinations, and their highs symptoms don’t affect their everyday life.
There are three main types of bipolar disorder:
Bipolar I: With this type, you have extreme erratic behavior, with manic “up” periods that last at least a week or are so severe that you need medical care. There are also usually extreme “down” periods that last at least 2 weeks.
Bipolar II: You’ve at least had one major depressive episode and at least one hypomanic episode, but you’ve never had a manic episode. It isn’t as extreme as bipolar I.
Cyclothymic disorder: People with cyclothymia have episodes of hypomania and depression that last at least 2 years in adults and 1 year in children and teens. The symptoms aren’t as intense as bipolar I and bipolar II.
In bipolar disorder, the dramatic episodes of high and low moods do not follow a pattern. Someone may feel the same mood state(depressed or manic)Â several times before switching to the opposite mood.These episodes can happen over a period of weeks, months and even sometimes years. Symptoms can cause unpredictable changes in mood and behavior, resulting significant distress and difficulty in life. How severe they get differs from person to person and can also change over time, becoming more or less severe.
There is no single cause of bipolar disorder. Researchers are studying how a few factors may lead to it in some people. Here are some of the things that might make you more likely prone to having a bipolar disorder include:
- Having a family member with bipolar disorder
- Going through a time of high stress or trauma
- Drug or alcohol abuse
If you have just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, you might feel frightened. Treatments can make a huge difference. With a combination of things– good medical care, medications, talk therapy, lifestyle changes and support from family and friends– you can be able manage bipolar disorder.
Personality Disorder
A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. An individual’s personality is influenced by experiences, environment(surroundings, life situations) and inherited characteristics. A person’s personality typically stays the same over time. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people.Â
In some cases, you may not realize that you have a personality disorder because your way of thinking and behaving seems natural to you. And you may blame others for the challenges you face. Personality disorders usually begin in the teenage years or early adulthood. There are many types of personality disorders. Some types may become less obvious throughout middle age. Some of those types include:
- Cluster A personality disorders: are characterized by odd, eccentric thinking or behavior.
- Cluster B personality disorders: are characterized by dramatic, overly emotional or unpredictable thinking or behavior.
- Cluster C personality disorders: are characterized by anxious, fearful thinking or behavior.
Personality is the combination of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that makes you unique. Personality forms during childhood, shaped through an interaction of your genes and your environment. Personality disorders are thought to be caused by a combination of these genetics and environmental influences. Your genes may make you vulnerable to developing a personality disorder, and a life situation may trigger the actual development.
Certain types of psychotherapy are effective for treating personality disorders. During psychotherapy, an individual can gain insight and knowledge about the disorder and what is contributing to symptoms, and can talk about thoughts, feelings and behaviors. It can also help a person understand the effects of their behavior on others and learn to manage or cope with symptoms and reduce manners causing problems with functioning and relationships. The type of treatment will depend on the specific personality disorder, how severe it is, and the individual’s circumstances. Unfortunately, there are no specific medications that can treat personality disorders. But active participation in a treatment plan, some self-care and coping strategies can be very effective.
Eating Disorder
Although the term “eating” is in the name, eating disorders are about more than food. Eating Disorders are serious conditions related to persistent eating behaviors that negatively impact your health, your emotions and your ability to function in important areas in life. These eating disorders might start with an obsession with food, body weight, or body shape, leading to dangerous eating behaviors. Eating disorders tend to develop mostly during the teenage and adult years.
It is very common for people with eating disorders to hide their unhealthy behaviors, so it can be difficult to recognize the signs of eating disorders, especially early on. Keep in mind that you can’t necessarily tell by how someone looks, including their size if they have an eating disorders.Â
In severe cases, eating disorders can harm the heart, digestive system, bones, teeth and mouth, leading to more serious health consequences and may even result in death if left untreated. In fact, eating disorders are one of the deadliest mental illnesses. People with eating disorders can have a variety of symptoms. Different types of eating disorders have different symptoms, but each condition involves an extreme focus on issues related to food and eating, and some involve extreme focus on weight.Â
Here are the most common eating disorders and their symptoms.
Anorexia nervosa: often simply called anorexia is a potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by weight loss, often due to excessive dieting, and exercise, sometimes to the point of starvation. People with anorexia feel they can never be thin enough and continue to see themselves as “fat” despite extreme weight loss.
Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders: This condition is characterized by eating very little and/or avoiding certain foods. It usually begins in childhood people with ARFID may avoid certain foods because of their texture or odor.
Bulimia nervosa: People with this condition tend to have extreme cycles of extreme overeating, followed by behaviors to compensate for the overeating. It is sometimes associated with feelings of loss of control about eating.
Binge eating disorder: This is characterized by regular episodes of extreme overeating and feelings of loss of control about eating.
The precise cause of these eating disorders isn’t really known, but they seem to coexist with psychological and medical issues such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, trouble coping with emotions and substance use. For some people food becomes a way to gain control over one aspect of their lives. Although these eating disorders may start out as simply eating a bit more or less than usual, the behavior may alter someone’s way of life.
If you notice a family member or friend who seems to show signs of an eating disorder, consider talking to that person about your concern for their well-being. Recognizing the signs of symptoms of an eating disorder is the first step toward getting help for it. Eating disorders are treatable, and with the right intervention of treatment and support, most people with an eating disorder can learn healthy eating habits and get their lives back on track.
What are you waiting for...
You can join our chatrooms
Chatrooms offer an opportunity for you to talk about what is going on in your life with people who know what it’s like to face mental health difficulties and everything that goes alongside them.
Personal Stories