The “Brain Fag” Syndrome in Nigerian Students

There has recently been a good deal of concern expressed in the Press, both of Nigeria and Ghana, over the high incidence of psychiatric disturbance among West African students in the United Kingdom. Whether the incidence of such disturbances is in fact greater among Africans than among other foreign students in the British Isles is not known; nor has it been determined whether the African student abroad is more prone to illness than his counterpart studying at home. Relevant to the latter question, it is clear that a high proportion of the cases seen in the psychiatric clinics both at Aro Hospital, Abeokuta and at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, are students, teachers and other “brain workers” who have never left Nigeria.