LAHORE, May 22: Former vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences and known psychiatrist Prof Malik Husain Mubbashir has said the World Health Organization defines mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities.
Such an individual can also cope with normal stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community, Prof Malik said.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Mental Health’, the former UHS VC said that essential tenets of positive mental health included presence of resilience, tolerance, and the capacity to follow social norms.
“Let us plot this definition unto the political leadership of our country and the nation itself. It wins no prizes to notice the yawning gap that widens when as a student of human behavior and positive mental health one observes the euphoric behavior of a nation basking in the glory of ‘power of vote’ exercised in 2013 elections, on one side and rejection of its results by some of its democratically ‘elected’ leaders on the other side”, he said.
Dr Mubashir was of the view that the expression of a behavior marred by psychotic ‘paranoia’, morbid jealousy, intense intolerance, suffocating prejudice, and incessant greed seen amongst leaders of political parties rejected by the people in their exercise of franchise left him aghast.
“The rhetoric by some of our leaders once again ‘crying foul’ after losing the elections, fulfills all the criteria of absence of mental health, as they exhibit intolerance, show no resilience to the stress, and an outright rejection of social norms of democracy”, he said.
He said the Athenians practiced democracy about 2,500 years ago as an alternative to tyranny and autocracy. “Skeptics no less than Aristotle considered it childish and others found it to be the ‘best of the worst’ systems of governance. But everybody believes that it is the best available means of staying in line with the world and be part of the global fraternity of democratic nations”, Dr Malik said.
He said the essence of democracy is the respect for the will of the people exercised through voting. The essential social norm of this system of governance is the acceptance and unconditional submission to this will.
It is only then that a nation can pursue a path of positive mental health, which is widely accepted as the cornerstone of health, which in turn the cornerstone of economy and wealth of a nation. “Mental health is in essence the true wealth”, he concluded. — Staff Reporter