KARACHI: Terrorism described as sign of society’s sickness: National psychiatry symposium
KARACHI, July 7: Eminent psychiatrists from across the country on Sunday claimed that the issue of terrorism, besetting Pakistan and other countries, was reflective of the collective abnormality of the society.
They said religious extremism, the rising incident of gang-rape in different areas of the country, the never-ending cycle of Karo Kari (honour killings) and other problems had remained unattended mainly owing to the listlessness of the members of the past legislative assemblies.
These views were expressed at the National Psychiatry Symposium organized jointly by the Pakistan Psychiatric Society and the department of Psychiatry, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi, to celebrate the 75th birthday of the country’s pioneer psychiatrist, Dr Zaki Hasan.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mussarat Hussain, head of the psychology department of the JPMC, extended the scope of the symposium to family physicians’ incompetency.
He said that the concept behind the induction of family physicians into the socalled new community of psychiatrists was not philosophical but practical as they formed the backbone of the health care system in the country.
According to him according due recognition to psychiatric illness offering proper correct diagnosis and suggesting cost-effective treatment can be complimented by empathy and formal counselling by doctors.
Dr Manzoor Ahmad, former vice-chancellor of the Hamdard University, speaking on the occasion, explained how the deviation of norms had now become a part of our lives.
He said there were problems which our society confronted partly because we partook in the global ambience but also due to our own cultural underpinnings.
“Surely there are socio-cultural factors, yet it must have something to do with the learning behaviour of today’s youth. Besides there is a tragic change in the attitudes and mental makeup, particularly of those whose basic function was to serve as the conscience of the society as upholders of religion” he said.
“Even among the high literate persons educated in international institutes, there is implicit acceptance of the occult, mysterious and unseen forces governing human behaviour,” he further said.
He said all these issues were disturbing and might not have anything to do with psychiatry but they were related to the mental health of our nation.
Dr Manzoor said that to unravel the working of a closed mind and to suggest ways and means of opening it, inputs had to come from sociology, psychology, philosophy and religion for working out a reasonable definition of mental health and for evolving criteria and norms of judging it.
He said that the attitude of people were fast changing and with the discovery of newer information, the conventional believe system was now replaced with hard, solid facts.—PPI
