KARACHI, May 6: Pakistanis are strongly recommended to cherish their comparatively intact family bonds and ties particularly in the backdrop of surging stress factors having almost equal impact on physical and psychological health of people.

Dr Aslam Naz, a consultant psychiatrist with a vast experience of working in the United States of America, in a presentation "Psychosomatic illnesses - Psychiatric factors affecting general medical conditions" at the Dow University of Health Sciences on Thursday, said that a wide range of health conditions caused stress and anxiety which in turned gave birth to various health conditions.

He stressed that required investigations must not be ignored and general physicians, sub-specialists in different medical fields and psychiatrists must do their optimum to gain the trust of patients for a proper understanding of the actual nature of a problem.

With regard to possible therapies for such conditions, he strongly suggested a family therapy, adding that family support was a blessing which could not be substituted for its effectiveness with any other intervention.

Group psychotherapy, relaxation techniques and hypnosis were said to be other available options. He also discussed how different systems of the human body are effected due to stress.

"Stress is an initiating factor and even common life stress can create un-marked history of different diseases," he said, referring to common respiratory problem as asthma and hyperventilation found with psychological problems as the underlying factor.

As for endocrinological diseases, the speaker stressed that doctors needed to see that fertility problems were not secondary to any antipsychotic medicines while the fact that women undergoing physiological changes were prone to anxiety and stress could also not be ignored.

Reiterating that while psychological conditions might manifest through physical conditions, Dr Naz suggested greater coordination among GPs, specialists and psychiatrists. -APP