Depression in women and children being neglected

RAWALPINDI: The scale of the problem, mental illness and depression is too magnanimous for psychiatrists alone to cater to the needs of population across Pakistan as in the country, there are only around 300 psychiatrists and around 160 under training and of these 160, a good majority may be “brain-drained” to the western countries.

Head of the Institute of Psychiatry and World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Professor Fareed Minhas expressed this at a seminar arranged by the Institute in connection with the World Health Organisation initiative on declaring ‘Depression – Let’s Talk’ as the theme for this year’s World Health Day.

The seminar was attended by esteemed guests including WHO Representative to Pakistan Dr. Muhammad Assai Ardakani, consultants, residents, house officers, and psychologists of the institute.

While giving introduction, Dr. Minhas emphasized the importance of understanding depression as illness, of widespread and ever increasing prevalence, its impact on physical co-morbidity, and its impact on maternal and child health. “Depression is a treatable illness and we have generated local evidence to support this fact.”

He added as signatories of the WHO and with collaboration of stakeholders, we are looking to build the capacity among non-psychiatrists to help shoulder the burden of patients with mental illness and depression particularly.

Director Programs Health Planning, System Strengthening & Information Analysis Unit (HPSIU) at Ministry of National Health Services, Islamabad Dr. Malik Muhammad Safi speaking on National Plan for Mental Health informed the audience of the EMRO Global Action Plan for mental health in 2014 which was intended to train primary health care professionals to bridge the treatment gap.

He informed the audience that our private sector is catering to 70 per cent of the population and most of the rural areas do not have any psychiatrists. “We need to encourage our psychiatrists to move and operate at district level.”

Professor Atif Rahman, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist at the University of Liverpool, speaking on Regional Mental Health said psychiatrists and psychologists are not the only solutions to the problem of mental health. Research, as a collaborative effort, has been conducted to garner evidence for the efficacy of the non-specialists, he said.

Children with developmental disorders are neglected part of our community even within psychiatry, he said.

Dr. Saba Khalid, Consultant Psychiatrist, at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, was then invited to speak on Depression in Women. Women are the caregivers; they are the backbone of the society. When their functioning is impaired, the society falls apart. The biological and psychological aspects are all good but we need to start considering the functioning of that woman suffering from depression, who is performing multiple roles within the family, she said.

WHO Representative to Pakistan Dr. Muhammad Assai Ardakani was then invited to give his key-note speech. He said he had six major suggestions for the government in collaboration with other centres to carry this year-long campaign forward.

Depression and mental health has to be spoken about for at least one year. We do not want to restrict ourselves to mere slogans and no practical changes. Talking about depression is only the beginning. This is a joint responsibility. This is not the responsibility of just one ministry, rather extends to all other aspects of the society, he emphasized.

The first point, Dr. Assai asserted, was about mass awareness. Media should have a key role. At least half an hour of airtime per month should be given to talk on depression. Reporters should go and see the issues in the community and increase awareness, he said.

Additionally, we need to interact with schools. Teachers and parents need to be trained. Our children need to be trained to stay happy. There is a role of religious leaders to advocate for being happy and increase social cohesion, he said. He added the community has a role to decrease the stigma associated with mental illnesses.