ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday announced the launch of Humraaz, a mental health application, along with an integrated helpline of 1166.

“Today Pakistan takes an important step to address and acknowledge mental health,” head of Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms Sulman Sufi tweeted.

Describing the phone app as a step that paved way to end mental health stigma, the official explained that mental disorders were highly prevalent worldwide and could often have a detrimental impact on the life of affected individuals, and to date remain mostly under-treated. Although a wide array of evidence-based treatments existed, the majority of individuals with symptoms of mental disorders remained unchecked and untreated, even in high-income economies. A sizeable count of people suffered due to various mental health challenges ranging from mild through medium to severe conditions.

In a statement, the government said poor mental health may range in severity and type from anxiety and panic attacks to bipolar disorder and depression etc. Apart from structural treatment barriers such as availability, affordability and time constraints, attitudinal factors play an even greater role in non-treatment-seeking behaviour.

People suffering from these types of disorders and issues look for ways to cope and deal with the challenges associated with such health conditions. They looked for support from others who understood what they were going through.“Unfortunately, not all of them know where to look for help, or even have a clear idea what problem they have. Furthermore, the idea of seeking medical help in case of mental health related issues is so stigmatised in society that people hesitate to reach out to seek advice in this regard.”

According to Mr Sufi, Humraaz with the integrated helpline was developed in collaboration with Ministry of Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, World Health Organisation (WHO), National Information Technology Board (NITB) and Federal Directorate of Immunisation.

The initiative aimed to provide consultative services of relevant practitioners/groups for curative purposes to citizens having psychological issues such as depression/self-harming thoughts etc.

The app is now available in Google and Apple stores and the toll free helpline 1166 is also active.The app will provide one-stop solution to the citizens having depression/self-harming thoughts/other mental health issues.Some of the key features of the app included guided and principle based counseling and psychotherapy sessions, daily activities monitoring, 24/7 connection with professionals, international standard knowledge base, ChatBot (including self-assessment), WhatsApp support, appointment and booking.It also provides support groups of people for help and sharing of experiences, more than 140 psychologists/psychiatrists registered in the initiative, out of which almost 60 plus are psychiatry resident doctors and counselors.Besides booking appointments based on availability/preferred timeslots of the psychologists/psychiatrists, more than 30 government psychologists/psychiatrists were onboard for providing free consultation services to the citizens having mental health concerns and self-harming thoughts.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2023