The concept about mental illness was not fully developed and a majority of people in Pakistan were unable to comprehend the true nature of illness especially in terms of causation and treatment approaches.
This observation was made by renowned psychiatrist and Head Department of Psychiatry Fatima Jinnah Medical College (FJMC) Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry while talking to Business Recorder here on Monday.
Emphasising the need for formulating a comprehensive strategy, to cope with increasing trend of suicide and mental ailments, he called for glorifying and personifying causes of suicides and homicides, as these are not stigmas but a disease or morbidity which runs into families.
'Suicides inside homes should not be highlighted in a negative manner by the media as it leaves a bad impression upon readers', he said.
During the last few years, suicide in Pakistan has gone up alarmingly and it is incumbent upon all of us to critically analyse the causes that has propelled the ratio to this precarious level, he revealed.
He maintained that poverty, unemployment; loss of loved ones, arguments with family or friends, breakdown in relationships, early marriages and legal or work-related problems are risk factors for suicide.
According to him, there is also some evidence that educating primary health care personnel in the identification and treatment of people with mood disorders may effectively result in cut in suicide rate among those at risk. Suicide prevention efforts will be less effective if these are not set within the framework of large-scale plans.
Answering a question, he said that Japan stood among few countries where suicide ratio is on high side while comparatively in Pakistan it was uncommon, however unfortunately it went up which signifies a critical situation and needs to be taken stock forthwith by people at the helm of affairs.
According to him, estimates show some 10 percent of country's population is suffering from either kind of psychology related disorders and there are apprehensions that by the year 2020, depression would be rated as the second major cause of death after heart diseases.
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