Rise in psychiatric problems

Professor Dr Mohammad Riaz Bhatti, President, Pakistan Psychiatry Society, has said at a news briefing held in connection with the 4th National Symposium on Psychiatric Updates, that there has been a significant increase in psychiatric problems, including depression, anxiety, phobia and suicide rate because of growing pressures in life and sensitivity of the people to routine issues, says a Recorder Report.
This is indeed a worrisome development. The problem of mental illness has remained un-addressed largely because of an acute shortage of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists in the country. For a population of over 160 million, there are only around 300 psychiatrists and 200 clinical psychologists, which is much below the standard set by WHO.
Unfortunately, mental health problems are being ignored in the same manner as socio-economic injustice, discrimination, crime and violence in society. Sincere efforts should be mounted for the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental illnesses as there is a misconception that mental health care is "limited" only to recognition, treatment and rehabilitation of mental patients. Specialists in this field believe that the widening of conceptual boundaries of mental health beyond management of mental illnesses, though potentially fraught with danger, is nevertheless the first step in translating the bio-psychological approach into practice.
Promotion of mental health mainly involves action in the spheres of policy and legislation, while the barriers to effective treatment of mental illnesses include lack of recognition of the seriousness of mental diseases, and misconceptions about the benefits of psychiatric services.
It is fact that paucity of psychiatric treatment facilities in the country is more acute than that of general health services. Studies conducted on mental health have shown that about 67 percent of women and 25 percent of men in the country are suffering from some form of psychiatric problems. But despite the huge prevalence of mental disorders, there are only about 3000 beds in the public sector, a little more than 200 in mental hospitals and about 1,000 in state-run teaching medical institutions, which is patently insufficient to meet the needs of patients.
It is true that all teaching hospitals now have a psychiatric unit in one form or the other, but these units lack proper infrastructure that is needed to serve the needs of mental patients. Meanwhile, there have been many causes, which have contributed to the high rate of mental health problems in Pakistan, including socio-economic stresses, high unemployment rates, rapidly changing socio-cultural values, fragmentation of the family system, and loss of religious values.
Prejudices based on race, culture and language too have resulted in conflicts among people, and have created a sense of insecurity, leading to mental problems. Then there is the endemic problem of drug abuse. There has been a rapid rise in the use of intravenous drugs in urban slums, which has increased the risk of spread of hepatitis, TB, HIV infections etc.
A report prepared by a Rawalpindi hospital says that 16 out of 1,000 children between three and nine years of age are suffering from mental retardation, while an estimated 4.01 million people, more than 70 percent of those below 35 years of age, are addicted to drugs.
Viewed at a global level, around 450 million people are suffering from mental and behavioural disorders, and psychiatrists believe that the number is likely to increase because of an ageing population and the worsening socio-economic problems.
Further, mass migration of people from rural to urban areas over the last two decades has inevitably led to a number of people living without social support, which has given rise of psychiatric problems in many cases.
Mental health is as important as physical health to make an individual a productive member of society. A healthy population contributes positively to the economic and social development of a country and this is reflected in the importance accorded to health issues in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Significantly, three out of eight MDGs are directly related to the health sector. The government should increase budgetary allocation for the health sector, and focus on developing infrastructure, including the mental health delivery system.