KARACHI: People with depression rarely visit psychiatrists
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 9: A majority of Pakistanis suffering from mental ailments, including depression, never visits psychiatrist either due to ignorance about their own condition or fear of being singled out as a deranged person.
As a consequence, most patients are doing without proper treatment despite the availability of some qualified psychiatrists. It may be mentioned here that from four to six per cent of Pakistanis suffer from depression.
According to a research study, if left untreated up to 35 per cent of the people with depression may commit suicide. Needless to say this is one area that needs to be looked into as soon as possible.
One per cent of the population suffers from schizophrenia, one per cent from epilepsy, one per cent from mental retardation, three per cent from drug addiction and two per cent from manias. The total prevalence of mental diseases is, therefore, between 10 and 15 per cent.
Addressing a press conference, President Pakistan Psychiatric Society Prof Musarrat Hussain said that in addition to the above, a small percentage of women suffered from pregnancy-related depression. Many persons having serious physical ailments also suffered from depression, he added.
He was of the opinion that stigma was associated with most of the mental ailments, creating unfavourable conditions for them to be referred to qualified practitioners. Health was not just the absence of ailments in a person. “On the contrary, it is the sum of physical, mental, spiritual, social and occupational well being of a man or woman,” said the professor.
Referring to the World Mental Heath Day, to be observed on Oct 10, Prof Hussain said that its theme this year was “Emotional and Behavioural Problems of Children and Adolescents”. Since more than 50 per cent of the Pakistanis were aged less than 15 years, the theme would suit the country, he added.
He pointed out that the children, who witnessed parental discord, parental separation or sibling rivalry were at a great risk of falling victim to mental disorders. He said that depression was of two types — reactive and indigenous.
Prof Hussain said, “The reactive type can be corrected through assurances and building up confidence. However, in the indigenous type some chemical changes take place, as a result of which the amount of opium-like chemicals that keep a person happy are produced in lesser and lesser quantities.” He gave the example of jogging and other physical exercises. “Jogging and exercises make one tired, but instead of being adversely affected, such persons after performing exercises become happy. This is due to the production of these opium-like chemicals or hormones in the brain,” he added.
Among children, mental diseases manifest themselves in various forms, including school phobia and sucking of thumbs, he said while adding that problems in nutrition can cause mental ailments.
He said that if children were over-protected, as if all their justifiable and unjustifiable demands were met swiftly, they might suffer from various complexes in practical life. On the other hand, if children were under-protected they might suffer from inferiority complex, he added.
Prof Hussain said that there was a time when certain afflictions like schizophrenia were considered to be incurable. “Today, however, schizophrenia is considered to be curable,” he remarked.
In response to a question, a member of the panel of experts said that some persons became drug addicts for pleasure, others due to peer influence and some others to overcome any problem.
He continued that there were basically two models for handling drug addicts — legal model and public health model. Under the legal model, he said, a drug addict was viewed as a criminal while in the second as a person who needed help.
When asked if persons having mental diseases must take medicines for the rest of their lives, an expert said, “There are diseases in which after removal of the problem medicines can be stopped. However, there are certain afflictions in which medicines cannot be stopped.”
Another panelist said lifelong medication was common in general medicine too. “There are very few mental diseases in which a patient must take medicines for the rest of his or her life, just like in the discipline of general medicines,” he added.
An expert said that depression was considered by the World Health Organization as fourth among the diseases with the greatest burden. “By the year 2020, it is expected to become the second in the list of diseases with the greatest burden,” he added.
He said that a psychiatrist should not just depend on medication to resolve the problems of a patient of depression. “He should also focus on the reasons behind the affliction,” he added. The psychiatrist stressed on the importance of the bio- psycho-social model of treatment in this regard.
The names of the professionals, who fielded the questions were: Prof Musarrat Hussain, Dr Sohail Ahmed, Dr Qazi Irshad Ahmed, Dr Iqbal Afridi, Dr Munir Haviani and Dr Zafar Hyder.
Later, a short drama was screened that dealt with depression. The title of the feature was “Talash khushion ki”. Prominent actors among those, who appeared in the feature, were Shakil and Qazi Wajid, who were also present on the occasion.
Addressing the conference, the two actors declared that they were ever ready to help the Pakistan Psychiatric Society in creating awareness about mental disorders in whatever capacity was deemed fit.
