09 October 2004	Saturday	23 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 8: Speakers at a seminar on Friday stressed the need for building institutional capacity to attend and check the mental health problems at all levels.

They noted that barriers to effective treatment of mental disorders included lack of recognition of the seriousness of the illness and as such there was need to educate people on the issue.

The seminar was organized by Karachi University's psychology department on the campus in connection with the World Mental Health Day, which will be celebrated globally on Oct 10. The department had also made arrangement for psychological assessment, quick counselling and informative stalls outside the seminar hall.

In her introduction remarks, the chairperson of the psychology department, Rakhshinda Talat Hussain, said that her department was celebrating the world mental health day for the first time on a large scale, with the sheer objective that students would get a chance to acknowledge the importance of mental health and help spread awareness for whatever they would learn during the day.

She pointed out that the mental health day called for formulation and implementation of measures ensuring easy access to health care facilities. Referring to some co-occurring disorders, including diabetes, cardiac ailments, Parkinson, cancer and HIV/AIDS, she underlined the need for collaborative efforts of psychiatrists and psychologists in improving the mental health status of mentally ill people.

Dr Unaiza Niaz, a noted psychiatrist, talked about the prevalence of mental illness and its different aspects, with a special reference to women. Referring to a UNDP report, she said that in Pakistan seven out of 10 people suffered from physical illness, while nine out of 10 suffered from mental diseases, but they were treatable.

The commonest diagnoses in primary care settings were depression, anxiety and drug abuse disorders, she added, saying that she did not see any consistent difference in prevalence of psychiatric morbidity between developed and developing countries.

She noted that the treatment was often delayed due to some stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness, like people with mental illness were dangerous to others, mental illness was feigned or imaginary, mental illness reflected a weakness of character, disorders were self-inflicted and diseases were incurable.

She said that violence against women was a major detrimental of mental distress and psychiatric illness among women. Violence against women as well as other social problems, including watta satta, forced marriages and childhood marriages had been the source of mental stress and disorders among women.

Dr Nargis Asad, an expert in clinical psychology, discussed the issue related to the co-occurrence of physical and psychological illness and highlighted the role of psychologists in attaining mental health and its maintenance.

She said that mental illness was common to all countries and caused immense isolation, poor quality of life and increased mortality. Most middle and low-income countries devoted less than one per cent of their health budget to mental health sector, she added, saying that mental health was not included among the top priorities of the government, while employment facilities and funds were also not available to mental health practitioners.

She said that in Karachi every two families had the one member with a psychiatric disorder. Children from the most neglected communities were suffering depressions, but most of the time they remained undetected, she pointed out.

Dr Nargis mentioned that increase in the mental disorder cases could be attributed to the lack of follow-up of patients with mental illness. She stressed the need for availability of mental health facilities at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, while on the other hand the general health staff must have the knowledge, skills and motivation to treat and manage people ailing with mental disorder.

The dean of arts faculty, Dr Muhammad Shamsuddin, said that there was need of formulating target oriented messages for the benefit of general people and their awareness.