The least we can do is to allow for mentally ill patients to seek adequate support
ISLAMABAD: In Pakistan, approximately 50 million people suffer from common mental disorders and unfortunately there are only 400 trained psychologists in the country, meaning that there is roughly one psychologist available per half a million people. Pakistan has one of the lowest mental illness patient-to-doctor ratios in the world.
Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions that affect mood, thinking and behaviour. People go through periods when they feel emotions such as stress and grief, but symptoms of mental illnesses last longer than normal and are often not a reaction to daily events. When symptoms become severe enough to interfere with a person’s ability to perform day-to-day chores, they may be considered to have a significant mental illness. Sadly, prospects for care are exceedingly bleak as many patients never seek treatment, quit prematurely or are shunned by family members
Psychologists in Pakistan believe that majority of the population is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and that there is not much being done to help them. It is also believed that being a patriarchal society, it is rare that men in Pakistan admit their depression because it will indirectly mean that they failed to cope with their responsibilities.
With constant stress, terrorist attacks, absence of social security, poverty, illness, poor health standards, injustices, illiteracy and economic tumors, people have become very rigid, inflexible in their thinking, and confused about religion. Things are going badly wrong. People are unable to rationally analyse the situation and are becoming angrier. These are the classic symptoms of PTSD. You find that Pakistanis have major issues around trust because they live in heightened security.
The situation is especially worrying for mental-health advocates because suicide rates have surged in Pakistan in recent years, from a few hundred pre-1990s to almost 7,000 last year. And this is probably an underestimated figure given the legal, socio-cultural and religious sanctions against suicide in Pakistan. Data from population-based studies indicate that a third of Pakistan’s population have anxiety and depression.
It is the responsibility of the provincial government to provide funds and the mental health professionals, especially psychologists, to provide leadership. On an individual level, some changes in lifestyle can significantly help. Be an organised person in your routine life, take wise and timely decisions, and take good care of yourself with healthy eating, regular physical activity and sufficient sleep — usually seven to eight hours for adults. Avoid conflicts in personal as well as professional life, try to participate in social activities, and get together with family or friends regularly. Avoid alcohol and drug use.
Moreover, stigma and shame must be uprooted from our communities. The therapy itself involves emotional suffering, vulnerability, anxiety and sadness. The least we can do is to allow for mentally ill patients to seek adequate support.
Syeda Nida Zahra
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2017.
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