We either ostracise people with mental health issues and, on the other, assume them to be possessed
KARACHI: This week as many as four teenagers committed suicide in Chitral. In the latest incident a teenager from Osiak village of Drosh killed himself by consuming rat poison following rejection of his marriage proposal. In the earlier incidents, two girls and a boy committed suicide in different villages. The incidents show there is a dire need to sensitise people on the importance of mental health.
In Pakistan talking about issues related to one’s mental health such as depression or anxiety is still considered a taboo. On the one hand, we either ostracise people with mental health issues and, on the other, assume them to be possessed owing to our orthodox mindset. The lack of understanding of such issues has had the World Health Organisation claim that in the future the leading cause of death in Pakistan would be depression. And the rise in suicide rates not just in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but also that of teenagers in Gilgit-Baltistan shows that it’s time we had an open discourse on mental health and advocated for seeking help from medical professionals — certified therapists or psychiatrists.
Pakistanis with mental health issues suffer alone, sometimes even without realising the reason behind their suffering. To help the country truly become a ‘happy country’ unlike what the recent indexes or statistics portray, we need to work towards awareness of mental health issues not only on societal level but also on governmental level, as there still exists a law that criminalises suicide.
Ramsha Jhangir
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2018.
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