Mental health: Lack of awareness plagues K-P

Suicide and attempted suicide rate has witnessed a consistent uptick in the province

PESHAWAR:

It was the month of March, when Rozina got married with great fanfare in Shagai Hindkian, a suburb of Peshawar; a day of great happiness for her friends and family alike.

This happiness was short-lived as on her first day of being married, the 18-year-old Rozina’s life turned upside down when her brother-in-law passed away. She was labelled as an evil spirit by her in-laws and husband, who had brought great misery to their family, which in turn started a vicious cycle of domestic abuse.

On June 6, Machnigate Police Station received information about Rozina's dead body and her death was termed a suicide. However, on August 13, the police after completing its investigation ruled out suicide and instead termed the death as a murder.

Rozina’s husband, Zia-ur-Rehman was arrested as the prime suspect, who then subsequently committed suicide while in police custody. Whether it is due to domestic violence, increase in poverty or being caught red handed in a crime, the rate of suicide has been on an upward trajectory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for the past five years. According to documents obtained by The Express Tribune, 188 people in the province have taken their own lives due to various reasons in the time period - 5% of these suicides were women.

Moreover, in the same period, 5,424 people attempted suicide. Alia Bibi, a resident of Peshawar, who recently lost her cousin to suicide, said that she did not even know why he killed himself. “He always used to stay alone after his parents passed away. One day I came home and saw his dead body lying on the floor,” a visibly torn Alia Bibi recounted, adding that he had taken his life by swallowing pesticide.

From January to July this year alone, 33 people have committed suicide in the province, while 688 people have attempted suicide. Haripur district has reported the highest number of suicide cases at 14 and the highest number of attempted suicides was reported in Swat district with 253 cases. Dr Imran Khan, Head of Department of Psychiatry at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), when asked about K-P’s growing suicide rate, said that like most of the country, K-P did not pay much regard to mental health or psychological problems.

“Mental health issues are not considered serious enough, so nobody seeks any sort of treatment.” For those who try to seek help, there is a dearth of therapists and trained psychiatrists, which further exacerbates the problem, as per Dr Khan. “Other reasons for increase in suicide and attempted suicide include increase of drug use, inflation and lack of any recreational facilities especially for women.”

The doctor further opined that parents and family not understanding children’s behaviour or not even looking for signs of depression was contributing to the rise. “Until these underlying issues are addressed and a conversation regarding mental health is not started, prevention of suicides will become difficult,” Dr Khan explained while talking to The Express Tribune.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2022.