PESHAWAR, Sept 12: Speakers at the concluding session ofthe 'National psychological counselling and training skills conference' at the Khyber Medical College on Sunday urged doctors to take into account the cultural environment while treating people suffering from depression.

"Local customs, religion, beliefs and poverty are responsible forthe increasing instances of depression in the NWFP and the doctors couldeasily diagnose and offer treatment to these patients by considering these factors," said the college's Principal Dr Khalid Attaullah Mufti.

Dr Mufti said that in addition to social support and counselling the patients needed spiritual treatment. He said growing poverty, unemployment and crime and lack of socialsupport and publicawareness regarding depression were leading to an increase in the number of patients.

He said family physicians were in a better position to treat such patients. He said that 100 people in every 2,000 suffered from tension, anxietyand depression but 50 per cent of them were diagnosed.

The condition was caused by shock and the patients felt worthless, guilty and demoralized, he said and stressed that seminars and refresher courses should be organized for family physicians on the topic.

NWFP Chief Secretary Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi said there was a dire need to train most of the doctors in counselling techniques. According to him,the patients could also be treated through techniques that involved Islamic teachings.

He said there should be continuous programmes at colleges and universities to support students and save them from psychological traumas and ordeals. He said it was important to update the curriculum for medicine students so that they could become aware of the latest research regarding the diagnosis and treatment of depression.

Agha Khan Medical University psychiatry department chief Abu Faizi said: "More than 450 million people suffer from depression globally and it is the fourth biggest killer among all the diseases." Depression, he said, affected the youth and deprived them of their productivity, ultimately making them a burden on their families.