Experts say 32pc suffering from anxiety disorders in Pakistan

PESHAWAR: Health experts and psychiatrists on Wednesday disclosed that around 32 to 34 percent people were suffering from depression and anxiety disorders in Pakistan due to a host of reasons.
They found out that schizophrenia that is one of the most debilitating and in most cases life-long mental illnesses is also present in about 1 percent of the population.
The experts said that more than 6.07 million people were drug addicts in the country.They were speaking at an awareness seminar in connection with the World Mental Health Day at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).
This year’s theme for the World Mental Health Day is “Dignity in Mental Health.”Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Medical Director Dr Nadeem Khawar, Psychiatry Department head Dr Syed Mohammad Sultan, Khyber Medical College (KMC) Principal Dr Ijaz Hassan Khan Khattak and others spoke on the occasion.
They said that children and adolescents also suffered from different mental illnesses such as ADHD, which can impair academic performance in addition to the distress that it brought to the children.
Dr Mohammad Sultan said that a significant proportion of the older adults suffered from different kinds of mental illnesses particularly dementia that caused impairment in the personal and social life and about 50-60 percent of these people had dementia of Alzheimer’s type.
“Unfortunately, in our country there are no specialist mental health services for older adults. With the collaboration of the Pakistan Psychiatric Society and the government of Pakistan, for the first time in Pakistan, the Department of Psycho geriatrics will soon be established at the KTH. We will also strive to establish such departments in all divisional headquarters hospitals and agency headquarters hospitals in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas within the next five years,” Dr Sultan told the seminar.
He said the Pakistan Psychiatric Society had suggested to other provinces to establish proper departments of psycho geriatrics. “We have decided to establish geriatric psychiatry as a specialty in the College of Physicians and Surgeons as well,” he said.
Dr Nadeem Khawar attended the seminar as chief guest and Dr Ijaz Hassan Khan as the guest of honour.The speakers elaborated the mental health day and stressed the need for creating awareness among the society to prevent psychiatric disorders.
Dr Nadeem Khawar stressed the need for establishing pediatric psychiatry that he felt was need of the time.Every year, the World Mental Health Day is celebrated throughout the world with a different theme for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy.