Drug therapy alone may not help trauma victims - International Psychiatric Conference
KARACHI, Jan 30: Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, a fast-growing phenomenon among people from all age groups exposed to various types of trauma, needs to be efficiently addressed
to defuse plight intensity of the sufferers as otherwise it could have strong repercussions on society in general.
Prof Arshad Hussain, Director, International Center for Psycho- Social Trauma, Missouri University, USA, during a workshop on Trauma Psychiatry held during the ongoing 15th International Psychiatric Conference on Saturday, reminding frequent instances of trauma of varied frequencies registered in different parts of the world, reiterated that the condition could be generally managed, quite efficiently, through externalization of the victims.
The victims could ventilate their suffering through verbal expression, or children through drawings and even while playing, he elaborated, mentioning that problem for psychiatrists in diagnosis was that often people felt reluctant to identify their symptoms, either due to low esteem or out of fear of being penalized or stigmatized.
Patients had to be made to talk about their bitter experiences, the psychiatrist stressed, urging that the sufferers must be convinced that psychological symptoms were normal reaction to abnormal situation.
Symptoms of PTSDs were said to range from nightmare, occasional flash back, suicidal tendencies, to absolute loss of hope, which they did not want to share out of trivial and unfounded fears.
Highlighting importance of counsellors, besides involvement of community members and teachers, the expert, a qualified child psychologist, specifically referred to the fact that symptoms if not managed could cause dysfunction - manifested through impaired functioning of some bodily system.
Prof Arshad Hussein, answering a question, said drug therapy was the last resort, as one of the serious issues related to PTSD was drug abuse, but added that medication held a definite role in acute instances.
However, in situations where availability of drugs might be impossible as in Afghanistan, a war-torn country, or sites hit by disasters, victims could be engaged in healthy activities, which could help restore their confidence to prevent recurrence of trauma, and be motivated to recapture control of their lives.
The second day of the conference, organized by the Pakistan Psychiatric Society with the support of World Psychiatric Society, was dedicated to psychiatric and mental health issues registered at global level.
The issues as post-war effects on mental health in Afghanistan, epilepsy, epilepsy in women, trauma psychiatry, bipolar disorder rating scales, and psychopharmacology were discussed.
Dr Geoffrey Barton, an expert from Florida, USA, presented his key note address on Islam or Id? The Conflict Between Religion and Psychiatry. The speaker cautioned psychiatrists about growing and insidious trend in the West focussed on the ostracism of religious practice.
He observed that though the root of "psyche" in psychiatry was the Greek word "spirit", yet psychiatrists across the globe appeared to be immerse in pharmacological solutions, attempting to be engaged in prescribing addictive drugs as treatment for ailments which might be of the soul.
The speaker further observed that the psychopharmacological limitations on part of the psychologists to be complete physicians also limit their intellectual horizons, as they no longer were keen to understand sufferers in their social contexts, but rather realign their neurotransmitter.
Dr Mukhtar representing Health National Intervention (HNI), a Dutch NGO, in his presentation on 'Mental Health issues in Afghanistan', mentioned rising incidence of mental illness in that country, specially in women who were major victims loosing one or more male members of their respective families during the war.
He maintained that psychiatric ailments, mainly depression, was also quite commonly registered among male population aged between 15 to 35 years, while on the contrary, 85 per cent of the women with relevant ailments were found to be those above 40 years of age.
The difference he said may be due to the fact that young women were rarely approved to be referred with such conditions owing to stigma attached to same, coupled with immense burden of wide range of social responsibilities.
Dr Mukhtar also mentioned that the HNI had developed a pilot project implemented in Nangaarhar to have a background information and a data base for the prevalence of psychiatric ailments and effects of war in Afghanistan.
He also claimed that PTSDs were rarely reported among Afghan population perhaps due to their strong conviction and faith in God. Dr Arshad Hussein, however, did not agree and referred to his personal experience of holding counselling sessions for Afghan refugees in Akora Khattak. -APP
