mental health

When someone falls to his death, it is not the person's failure in life. It is society’s failure to listen to him.

SUHAINI AZNAM, columnist in the Star newspaper, on why suicide occurs in our community.

Its a mad mad world...

he wrote a very good article on mental health care in malaysia especially focusing on depression and suicide in the Star paper.

these are some cold hard facts from WHO:

• 450 million people world wide are affected by either a mental, neurological or behavioural problem at any one time.
• about 873 000 people die of depression each year.
• one in 4 patients who seeks health care has at least one mental, neurological or behavioural problem but these are often not diagnosed nor treated.
• most country designate less than 1% of their health care budget to mental health.
in malaysia, with a population of 27 million, there are currently less than 1,000 psychiatrist in the goverment hospital and fewer still in the private sector. for example in the state of melaka, there are only 2 psychiatrists in the private practice. annually, only 40 psychiatrists are produce in this country.

the low number of psychiatrist in this country boils down to the fact that many in our society still do not understand the importance of mental health. people with mental illness are stigmatized and discriminated by society. the only friends they have as they wonder around cities or towns semi-naked or in rags are isolation and poverty. even within the medical fraternity itself, psychiatry is sadly considered as an outcast of the medical pratice. while this way of thinking is slowly changing, we are still a long way off in accepting mental health as a medical disease.

our body gets sick sometimes. when an infection occurs, it manifest as fever. when we have a viral infection of the respiratory tract, it manifest as a cough or a stuffed nose. the brain is a part of the body. and like any part of the body it is succeptible to diseases. its funny how society cant apply the same concept when trying to accept mental illness. we rather brand these people as "otak tak center", "tiga suku" , "siow lang" (and the list goes on) etc.society also tend to have this deep rooted fear for people who are mentally unwell. the movie "Psycho" didnt help make things any better as well. instead i think it had the same impact of those with mental illness as "JAWS" had on the shark population. People with mental illness are often thought as people who are violent and dangerous when it is they who are more likely to endure violence. they, more often than not are victims of hate crimes and rape.

robbed off a sound mind by fate, able minded people go one better by robbing them of their dignity. they are ostracized and are often banished to one corner of town. in some families, a family member who is mentally ill of even mentally challenged are tied to a pillar by a chain or locked in a room. cut off from the outside world as though they never existed. to these families, its not about locking away a creation of God for his/her own benefit. its the hiding of a family shame to uphold and protect the family's pride.

but i guess you cant lay all blame on society alone. knowledge on mental disease is still very minimal and understanding of the pathophysiology of it is at best at an infancy level. the most they can up are hypothesis and thats about it. if even doctors and scientist arent definately sure as to why it happens, what more bout the uneducated. as the saying goes "you fear what you dont know." much of the stigma surrounding disease can be prevented by making society more aware of it and by setting up support group members among people who has a loved one who is mentally ill.

but as long as mental health is not viewed as a medical condition but as a weakness of character or a punishment from god for past family sins, the cycle will continue.