95 per cent of mental health problems are curable, say experts

Due to various factors, one person commits suicide every 40 seconds around the globe. There are seven warning signs which indicate that someone around you could be suicidal.

If a person is withdrawing from friends and family, talking about feelings of hopelessness, is persistently angry or sad, increasingly using drugs and alcohol, self-harming, writing or talking about death and suicide or experiencing mental health problems, the there is a possibility that he or she might think about committing suicide.

These views were expressed by the dean, Faculty of Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Professor Dr M Iqbal Afridi, on Tuesday. He was the guest speaker at a seminar, which was arranged by the Department of Psychology, University of Karachi, at the Arts Auditorium.

The department organised the event ‘Youth Ambassadors of Life and Hope’ to mark World Mental Health Day. Dr Afridi, who is also the member of the Sindh Mental Health Authority, said that the objective of holding the session was raising awareness of mental health issues among the youngsters and mobilising efforts in support of mental health.

“Pakistan is one of the youngest countries in the world and the second youngest in the South Asian region after Afghanistan. It has 64 percent population of youngsters who are below the age of 30 years, whereas 29 percent of its population is between ages of 15 and 29 years.”

He mentioned that this was a huge potential but it also increased the responsibility of understanding and addressing the problems and issues of the young generation as we could not leave them alone during their crises.

Dr Afridi observed that mental health issues targeted people in their young age as compared to other diseases that came into their lives in later stages. The pressure from parents and society or fear of losing something valuable or not achieving the targets were some of the main reasons behind the matter.

He said that around 95 percent of mental health problems were curable and our family system was very strong, which should be utilised to help people come out of depression.

KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said that socio-economic factors were one of the major reasons for suicide in the country. He stressed the need to engage the community to address the challenge and said that communities could play a very important role in advocating and educating people about not thinking or committing suicide. Quoting a US research, he mentioned that suicide and divorce cases were increasing as people were not talking to each other.

Renowned artist Khaled Anam shared his experiences with the audience and said that there might be many reasons to be suicidal but there were also too many reasons not to think of or attempt suicide.

“We must be happy to be alive as it is a precious gift from the Almighty Allah and whenever a person feels sadness or hopelessness then he or she must talk to parents, siblings, teachers and friends to come out of that depressing situation.”

Dr Zanab Zaidi from Bahria University said that our problems build up when we only think about that particular crisis or dilemma, but as soon as we start thinking about the solution, the pressure of the issue starts reducing and we feel comfortable and quite relaxed.