Recognising mental illness

My friend’s daughter is 16 years old. She is also lonely, depressed and very suicidal. She has long bouts of feeling down where she refuses to socialise with people. Her parents are extremely concerned because on more than one occasion they have found blade marks on her wrists and arms. After trying to talk to her, screaming and punishing her they finally decided to go see their family physician.

The doctor performed a complete physical examination, listened to all her symptoms and then referred them to a psychologist. But when the doctor mentioned there might be a psychological problem, the parents went into denial and got angry. “Our daughter is not an insane person. She doesn’t need a psychologist. Psychologists are for crazy people.”

This is unfortunately the mindset of a large population of the people of Pakistan today. People are willing to recognise cancer, diabetes and hepatitis as ‘real’ illnesses. But when you bring up mental illness the topic is immediately brushed under the carpet. Recently, I was with a group of educated women, all of whom are mothers, and I mentioned how a work colleague had just had a child and was suffering from postpartum depression. The women were unimpressed and extremely judgmental of my colleague. One of them told me my colleague should “stop being selfish and get over it.” Postpartum depression is recognised all over the world and many different kinds of treatment are available. There have been incidents of women killing their newborns in fits of frustration because they were not given proper help.

The kind of pressures that people face in their day-to-day lives are tremendous. Ours has become a society of walking zombies, yet no one wants to deal with the real problems. Even children these days are under constant pressure from parents and teachers to be super-kids. Trying to have the best grades, being involved in co-curricular activities and be an athlete is enough to make them break. So, instead of ensuring that there are counsellors/child psychologists in schools to help them deal with these burdens, they are pushed further until they collapse or turn to drugs for relief.

Why are we still living in the Stone Age when it comes to recognising people’s psychological needs? Why is psychology still not considered to be a real subject or a real degree? A friend of mine who majored in Psychology at college recalled her parents’ reaction when she told them what she was planning to study. Her father said, “tum pagaloon ki doctor banno gi?” (You want to treat mad people?).

We need people to understand the need for more psychologists. Psychology allows people to better understand how the mind works and why people react in certain ways. Having this understanding allows mental illnesses to be better diagnosed and managed, helps people manage their relationships, encourages those with depression or anxiety to take steps to improve their conditions, and promotes an overall healthier mental state.

A healthy mind will always lead to a healthier body. So if you can go to the doctor for a common cold then you can certainly go to a therapist if you are depressed or anxious.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.