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‘20 million Pakistanis suffering from mental illness’

Mental illness, unfortunately is a very big taboo in the subcontinent. It should be properly treated and dealt with. Whereas we usually look the other way.

If you PDFians know of some troubled soul, DO reach out. You could actually be stopping them from spiraling out of control, and could be the proverbial "thread" their sanity hangs by! under any circumstances do not take it lightly.

I have seen how someone fell into depression and then became suicidal. it's only divine intervention, that he is alive today. Was extremely painful for all of us involved.



The definition of battered, can be psychological trauma, physical trauma or both. From what I know it is not restricted by socio-economic class.



Actually mental illness is a science of it's own. 99% of psychologists agree on it's symptoms.

What varies from society to society is how they treat it. In the west they are more open about it. In the East, not just South Asia, but Far East as well, it's a horrible taboo, a stigma. Which is extremely unfair and should not be the case. It can actually cost someone his life.
Africa too, I have lived in Africa, the way they treat their mentally Ill is very sad. Mostly it is assumed to be "evil spirits". Flogging, chaining up ....very sad.
 
Mental illnesses obviously exist, we can spot a mad man if we see one, but mental medicine is very primitive. As of now humans dont have the ability to fix this problem. We dont know enough of the brain. The current mental health system is only a business powered by pharmaceuticals with the aim of selling their pills. In a way its comparable to herbal medicine practiced ten or twenty centuries ago. Didnt know what exactly was wrong or how it got fixed, just came to know that some herb will make it better through trial and error.
 
Western definition of "mental illness" isn't used here in the East. Over there, being sad is down syndrome or depression, shyness is considered as social anxiety, sleeping less or going to bed late at night is called insomnia and trying to keep yourself and your surroundings clean and tidy is called OCD.

How can people "thank" your post which is obviously fucking retarded in itself, being sad is called downs snydrome..no, downs syndrome is downs syndrome, its a physical disability, being depressed which millions of people in the world suffer with and I imagine many many more in muslim countries where there is no support is a serious mental illness. Many people die from it every year and many people live with it. Being sad is being upset at your uncle being passed away, being depressed is an overwhelming daily feeling of being unable to achieve anything in life and that your worthless, theres a reason people join the likes of ISIS, they are mentally ill and have no outlet. Even the Taliban had a psychiatrist you fucking idiot.

Social anxiety is not being shy, imagine you lived on your own in a European country and I assume you are a muslim, being asked to go out to a club for a work party with lots of drinking etc, you cant say no because your new and struggling to meet people so you go out of your comfort zone, the feeling you get in your stomach and the problems you go over and over again in your mind is social anxiety, not being shy, its more of a fear of impending doom in the situation you must engage in, imagine being a severely obese person and having to go to a gym, those feelings are what social anxiety people suffer with. Just because you dont feel a certain way about a situation does not mean others do, I mean you probably believe in god which is hilarious to me but to you thats your god and thats how you feel.

Yes, there is over diagnosis in the west probably encouraged by the pharma industry which has a pill for every mood swing....but doesn't take away from the fact that there are a lot of people out there with mental problems not getting the care they need. ....both because of stigma from society and lack of quality care.
His response was exactly the reason mental health is a problem, no one talks about it.

I imagine there is alot of mental problems in Pakistan, its just cultural issues and people like him stop it being a subject.
 
More than half the country is inbred so it is not really surprising that many Pakistanis suffer from mental and physical disorders.
 
On the streets of Pakistan every second person looks like mentally disturbed so the actual number may be much higher...
 
I think poverty has a huge role to play, when you can't meet your monthly expenses, can't find a job,when people live crowded together, when there is domestic violence at home, it can trigger mental illness if you have a genetic inclination.

Many families are not kind to their children, punishments can be really harsh, I remember once seeing a young mother physically kick her toddler on the street....I would be very surprised if that child grew up to be normal. Of course Pakistan has additional issues like refugees and terrorism....all this together and it is actually amazing that anybody is sane.
 
‘20 million Pakistanis suffering from mental illness’

Yup, I've knows that. In fact the sickness doesn't spare people with money or status either. Zardari was a chronic patient of Depression and had serious Border Line Personality Disorder. He'd come to the US for treatment and rehab. He's also a raging alcoholic because of depression. IK on this other hand has serious Bi-Polar with Manic-Depression. You can tell from his speech when he's in the manic episode and when he's drunk and when he's not.

People with these mental disorders need psychiatric help and there is a growing number in Pakistan. In fact, terrorism and all, are also linked to mental illnesses. Their are certain depression types where patients commit suicides and get so violent to kill themselves.

The analysis I've done on Pakistan tell me that Pakistanis have a huge number of Bi-Polar Depression. This whole intolerance and overly powerful feelings are symptoms of these issues.
 
I've spoken to doctors from Pakistan and internationally-known psychiatrists. They didn't talk numbers of afflicted but maintained that Pakistan suffers from an acute shortage of mental health professionals. Is "20 million" a guess or is there an actual basis for this figure?
 
Western definition of "mental illness" isn't used here in the East. Over there, being sad is down syndrome or depression, shyness is considered as social anxiety, sleeping less or going to bed late at night is called insomnia and trying to keep yourself and your surroundings clean and tidy is called OCD.

You obviously have NO idea as to what you are talking about. Did you get diagnosed and ran away to your country from US or the UK?
Allow me to share the BASIC definition of mental hygiene as I can speak with a lot of confidence on this topic. Let's pick two examples from your post and try to form scientific and clinical criteria. Being Sad is "Down Syndrome"?? Are you kidding me???

Down Syndrome is a genetics disorder where a woman, if she's above a certain age (typically over 35), has high risk of causing a genetic malfunction, which then results in a child that can't speak, has issues with their face, bodies, and these children can never look or talk like normal children. They are born with brain wiring done incorrectly as this gene is responsible for it. Resulting in a malfunctioning brain and deformed organs. Majority of these children in the East, die at some point, sadly.

Just so you now, the Down Syndrome patient / child can never communicate to you or talk like humans that you'd even understand if they are sad or happy. They can just show emotions through their facial expressions.

Next, I'll pick the last item, the Cleanliness issue. Keeping yourself and your surroundings clean is great. But let's define the criteria, is the person "constantly" cleaning your hand and body, like ten times a day or so, normal? You think taking 10 showers a day is being clean? Similarly, does the person doing so much cleaning, went through a loss recently like Divorce, lost family members, friends? or Hallucinates? Well, if any of these are present, then its not a typical "I want to be clean". Does the person get scared a lot or stay awake on majority of nights? or has nightmares every-time they try to sleep? or they talk to others or can get violent if things aren't done their way or keep thinking about an event and NEVER forget it (Classic sign of OCD and Mania)...?? These symptoms are WAY beyond "Normal" personality and require treatment, or they can harm themselves or others. If you know a person like this, and they didn't do anything like this, doesn't mean nothing like this happens.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or as known in the US medical industry as "DSM" (version 5 is the latest, defines ANY mental disorder with symptoms that interfere with a normal daily life. DSM has all criteria which the healthcare professionals use to diagnose, identify and test, treat and manage mental disorders.

Sadness or depression due to an event like losing a friend, missing family, sad after a job loss, are normal human feelings. When someone becomes so sad that they lock themselves in the room for months, don't shave, don't brush their teeth or don't eat and get angry or sad or scares, you've crossed the "normal sadness and normal depression". Now you are considered clinically depressed and you'll need medication to go back to your normal life, or you'll keep going into more and more darkness.

Similarly, if a person taking 3 showers a day and washing hands 5 time or more, still manages a family, friends, work, and other obligations, and doesn't get violent, scared, doesn't hallucinates or doesn't lose sleep for weeks or months, is STILL considered a normal person.

People and the doctors in the West aren't stupid. No one just diagnoses you with something because they want to. There is a strict criteria for it. But Eastern countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, even in the ME, Russia and some other countries, mental illness is a myth and people spend their lives and ruin them, when they can live normally if they went to a Brain Doctor and took a pill or two for a while. Hiding disease is not equal to better health, trust me!!

So my suggestion is, not talk about these serious diseases if you don't know the clinical history, criteria and all. It just sounds stupid to write stuff on here that people go to Med school and then to specialty careers for, and spend over 10-12 years in learning about these diseases and how to fix them if they can!!
 
I've spoken to doctors from Pakistan and internationally-known psychiatrists. They didn't talk numbers of afflicted but maintained that Pakistan suffers from an acute shortage of mental health professionals. Is "20 million" a guess or is there an actual basis for this figure?
Plus, I have noticed among medical students, psychiatry is less valued specialization than say cardiology or endocrinology or something where you are working on physical problems. Even medical students chose to be psychiatrists as a last option. Maybe different in Pakistan, I wouldn't know.
 
Plus, I have noticed among medical students, psychiatry is less valued specialization than say cardiology or endocrinology or something where you are working on physical problems. Even medical students chose to be psychiatrists as a last option. Maybe different in Pakistan, I wouldn't know.
The Pakistani radiologist I spoke with - a most skilled practitioner, cured a relative when other radiologists failed - complained that he felt Pakistan didn't value him as he couldn't get adequate facilities in Pakistan. (I suppose that in Pakistan he couldn't have had his Indian medical student as an assistant, either...)
 
Intolerance is one of signs in mentality sick persons and I can see a lot of them here also, no doubt.
 
Intolerance is one of signs in mentality sick persons and I can see a lot of them here also, no doubt.
Especially the folks who want zarbeazb like operation against sprite ads :-/

Intolerance is one of signs in mentality sick persons and I can see a lot of them here also, no doubt.
Especially the folks who want zarbeazb like operation against sprite ads :-/
 
You obviously have NO idea as to what you are talking about. Did you get diagnosed and ran away to your country from US or the UK?
Allow me to share the BASIC definition of mental hygiene as I can speak with a lot of confidence on this topic. Let's pick two examples from your post and try to form scientific and clinical criteria. Being Sad is "Down Syndrome"?? Are you kidding me???

Down Syndrome is a genetics disorder where a woman, if she's above a certain age (typically over 35), has high risk of causing a genetic malfunction, which then results in a child that can't speak, has issues with their face, bodies, and these children can never look or talk like normal children. They are born with brain wiring done incorrectly as this gene is responsible for it. Resulting in a malfunctioning brain and deformed organs. Majority of these children in the East, die at some point, sadly.

Just so you now, the Down Syndrome patient / child can never communicate to you or talk like humans that you'd even understand if they are sad or happy. They can just show emotions through their facial expressions.

Next, I'll pick the last item, the Cleanliness issue. Keeping yourself and your surroundings clean is great. But let's define the criteria, is the person "constantly" cleaning your hand and body, like ten times a day or so, normal? You think taking 10 showers a day is being clean? Similarly, does the person doing so much cleaning, went through a loss recently like Divorce, lost family members, friends? or Hallucinates? Well, if any of these are present, then its not a typical "I want to be clean". Does the person get scared a lot or stay awake on majority of nights? or has nightmares every-time they try to sleep? or they talk to others or can get violent if things aren't done their way or keep thinking about an event and NEVER forget it (Classic sign of OCD and Mania)...?? These symptoms are WAY beyond "Normal" personality and require treatment, or they can harm themselves or others. If you know a person like this, and they didn't do anything like this, doesn't mean nothing like this happens.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or as known in the US medical industry as "DSM" (version 5 is the latest, defines ANY mental disorder with symptoms that interfere with a normal daily life. DSM has all criteria which the healthcare professionals use to diagnose, identify and test, treat and manage mental disorders.

Sadness or depression due to an event like losing a friend, missing family, sad after a job loss, are normal human feelings. When someone becomes so sad that they lock themselves in the room for months, don't shave, don't brush their teeth or don't eat and get angry or sad or scares, you've crossed the "normal sadness and normal depression". Now you are considered clinically depressed and you'll need medication to go back to your normal life, or you'll keep going into more and more darkness.

Similarly, if a person taking 3 showers a day and washing hands 5 time or more, still manages a family, friends, work, and other obligations, and doesn't get violent, scared, doesn't hallucinates or doesn't lose sleep for weeks or months, is STILL considered a normal person.

People and the doctors in the West aren't stupid. No one just diagnoses you with something because they want to. There is a strict criteria for it. But Eastern countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, even in the ME, Russia and some other countries, mental illness is a myth and people spend their lives and ruin them, when they can live normally if they went to a Brain Doctor and took a pill or two for a while. Hiding disease is not equal to better health, trust me!!

So my suggestion is, not talk about these serious diseases if you don't know the clinical history, criteria and all. It just sounds stupid to write stuff on here that people go to Med school and then to specialty careers for, and spend over 10-12 years in learning about these diseases and how to fix them if they can!!
Please, I have seen the Internet filled with Western people calling cleaning tidiness as "satisfaction for their OCD".

In your military the minimum number of years of service a person has to do is 4 years and after that they can leave. But in ours it's 10 years, thus most of our men are prepared to spend their life as a Military men, whereas many of yours see it as a stepping stone for a better career elsewhere and sometimes for the free college education.

Also, that is absolute bull$hit. Unlike you people we don't get sad for apparent no reason at all. For example when a pet dies or when you don't have a girlfriend.

@Viper0011. Also, there was no proof or any evidence of a study being conducted for that claim. If so, then I can just go and say that the $1.2 trillion is owed to me as debt by the US treasury.

The Eastern civilization also discovered a very nice cure for them all: Opium
The addictive properties aside, the relaxation of brain activities reduces aforementioned "illnesses".

Opium is illegal in most Eastern countries and also the use of opium in medicines are also banned.
 

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