Kenya's legendary footballer, Dennis Oliech has listed family and friends as people who are also capable of affecting one's mental health.
Oliech was speaking to the Kenya Psychiatric Association (KPA), which has kicked off its annual campaign on the May Mental Health Awareness Month to educate Kenyans on their health condition.
Narrating some of the challenges he faced when he was playing overseas, the leading Harambee Stars top scorer said,
"Family is the biggest challenge that I had because family and friends were always quite demanding. Wherever I am they always wanted me to send them money and my friends wanted this and that."
Oliech says the biggest hurdle was that his friends and family members always assumed that he was making a lot of money abroad.
He says this is something many Kenyan international players experience to date and that affects their concentration on the pitch hence affecting their performances.
"You'll find that the same player would go up to six months without playing because he's suffering from the pressures from home of their family members asking for money," he said.
He added, "They would do so because I am either playing in Europe, Qatar, or France but little do they know that they are affecting my mental health. Because they are demanding something yet they don't know what you are going through behind the scenes.
He noted that as a result, you get family members or even friends who travel abroad for work and cut off their family members for even years.
He also called on anyone having mental issues to seek help and talk to a trained counselor.
"This is because when they are away for work some are even suffering. I would like to encourage people who are suffering mentally to go out there and seek help. Go and talk to someone experienced someone who is able to talk to you and assist you."
Check out the video below;
Terrence Creative recounts his days as a witch doctor