Dealing with depression

Long-term anxiety and panic attacks can cause your brain to release stress hormones on a regular basis. This can increase the frequency of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and depression. Depression affects people of all ages, from all walks of life, in all countries. It causes mental anguish and impacts on people’s ability to carry out even the simplest everyday tasks. At worst, depression can lead to suicide, now the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-old people. Pakistan is one of those vulnerable countries where stress, anxiety and depression are at a high level. The number of people with anxiety and depressive disorders in Pakistan stands at 34 percent, according to a 2005-2006 Aga Khan University study. Depression is the result of a multitude of factors including genetic, environment, personality, upbringing, social, illiteracy , lack of health and education facilities etc.

This year the World Mental Health Day (Oct 10) ,with the focus on ‘preventing suicide ‘, received more attention in Pakistan than in the past. According to a 2018 report by WHO, the suicide mortality rate (suicide per 100000 deaths) in Pakistan in 2016 was 2.9. The level of mental health should improve if we start caring for every other human being and don’t leave him or her to drift from frustration to mental illness. Effective treatment is available through talking therapies and antidepressant medications, or a combination of both. Governments can improve mental health services, families and communities can provide social support, civil society groups can raise awareness, and individuals can seek help and treatment and talk to others about how they feel.

Muhammad Abubaker Khan

Rawalpindi