An anklet is a fashion item for the ultra fashionable signifying liberation in one's expression of her personal identity. But for the ultra mentally unstable, it is an insignia for slavery, restriction, pain and anything but fashionable.

For the mentally unstable, the anklet  down there is an outward sign of an inner disorder up there. Ghana celebrated World Mental Health Day on 10th October to highlight the plight of the increasing number of people who suffer mentally.

In Ghana, some prayer camps in a misguided bid to heal mentally ill persons have been subjected to beatings,deprivation and serious maltreatment.

This picture  was taken on the street of Accra when the World Mental Health Day celebration was going on.

Families often reject the patient leaving them trapped in a world of their own, scorned and abused with apparently little hope of recovery.

It is time we begin to re-think popular perceptions about mental patients that result in insolation, rejection and abuse. A mentally ill person needs help not hefty slaps or chains of any kind.

We need to help remove the anklets in the mind of mentally ill. If it is fashion for those who are healthy, it cannot be bondage for others just because they are sick.