When will pakis get out of the ‘chali hogayi’ attitude to the mentally ill and stop shackling them up. What happened to getting proper medical treatment? And why is their a common perception amongst the desi community that those that lose it, can never be brought back?
Re: The Mentally Ill
I have thought the same thing many times. I went past a mental hospital in Pakistan and heard all kinds of screams and yelling coming from there.
Re: The Mentally Ill
was it cos yu were there ??
Re: The Mentally Ill
It is indeed sad, and evidence of the ignorance shared by many Pakistanis. The media has been doing some activity to diminish this ignorance, but I'm sure there is a great deal of work left to go.
Some people don't know there are medications for various mental illnesses!
Re: The Mentally Ill
The reality is most of the Pakistani population doesn't recognize psych conditions as medical based. It's has to do with jinns and churails.
The reason being that if you are being fed, have a roof on ur head, and your family/friends are treating you nicely - why should "feel" depressed? "Tuaday kol kee nai hega?" is the common rationale and you are thought to be unthankful for all the blessings in your life but most people don't choose to feel this way. It just happens do to some hormonal/chemical imbalance. The masses need to be educated.
I know of an aunty who went thru post-partum depression. She was a recent arrival from Pakistan and got pregnant - she already had like 7 kids so this one was unexpected. She wouldn't touch the baby, didn't wanna have anything to do with the baby. Baby's older sister mostly took care of her. Anyway, thankfully she saw a psychiatrist and went for therapy and now she's doing much better Alhamdulilah. I think for her, everything added up...she felt out of place in the US cuz she came from a big family in Pakistan, the lifestyle here didn't suit her, and plus the pregnancy. It all added up. She's back in Pakistan now, and have heard that she's doing great and so is the baby.
Re: The Mentally Ill
Some ppl don't believe in drugs...and most women in my family and past generations have had quite a few kids each, and they say they don't believe in all these modern diagnosis'...it seems today, some things that r not even real diseases start getting labeled...some think this is to make more money for drug companies...i don't really think putting ppl who r depressed on meds ONLY is effective...but a combination, of both therapy and meds may help...sadly, in asian culture i've noticed that ppl laff at the thought of going to a psychologist...i also once heard a black coworker of mine say that, pyschology is not for them cos they have church lol, she was just joking around...but perhaps we asians (or at least in our parents' generation) think along the same lines...i've noticed Pakistani mums always have a circle of close friends or family members...and talk to each other about their problems...i guess back in the day that is how women there coped...but times are changing and at least abroad, asians r now taking a closer look at psychology and mental illnesses...some r even studying psyc at uni...i have a little cousin who is mentally disabled...she has a combined treatment of both medication and sessions with her doctor...it has helped her lot...before in Germany, she wasn't doing well socially...but after moving to Pakistan and having this combined treatment there, she is doing much better...i'm not advocating that drugs shud or shudn't be used to treat mental illnesses, just stating some of my observations...and i think it depends on the person's family.
Re: The Mentally Ill
sometomes i really think that i need a psychiatrist.but i cant say it to anybody not even my mom i told her once that i need to c a psychiatrist and she was shocked and her reactoin was.....i just cant explain it.i am a depression patient sometimes i have these serious depression attacks,and my mom she really feel worried about me coz my behavior totally changed,so i started uses medicine like.lagzotinal,xenex,My friend was really worried about my attitude,and wat i really think is that nobody can do anything for u.if ur in some kind of mental stress only u can do something or cure urself.so by the grace of ALLAH now i don use any medicines except pain killers.I really dont know that for how long i am not going to take these medicines,but lets hope fro the best.koi bhi insaan pagal nahi hota.hallat bana dete hain.we all shud try to help these kind of people.
Re: The Mentally Ill
kiara, sweets..i know how you feel. It's all about helping yourself. No one understands....the common person whos never suffered won't understand why halat make you sad or down. You really have to have been there to know. I pray for your betterment :)
Thanks guys...interesting responses.
Sehar, i know a girl who went through the same but thankfully her family sought medical attention. The community though spread gossip that 'susral walon nay kaam karwa krwa kay uski halat aisi kar di'. Really it was because she'd been hospitalised for months before and after her kids birth.
Re: The Mentally Ill
The media has been doing some activity to diminish this ignorance, but I'm sure there is a great deal of work left to go. <<<
PCG, can you let me know more about this? What medium has been used? This is in Pakistan right? Unfortunately it's not just in Pakistan, there is lots of stigma in the West as well about severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia. In any confrontation, the police calls in backup, operating on the assumption that anyone with a mental illness is dangerous.
Has anybody here been to a psychiatric hospital in Pakistan? How inhumane is it really?
Re: The Mentally Ill
There is at least one health show that I know of on these private Pakistani channels. I don't remember its name, but its Health something. Additionally, they've addressed post-partum depression in that show for new moms (again, I really don't remember the name of the show). And there is this show Rishtay that I've heard of them once addressing depression as a psychiatric issue and how its so widespread in Pakistan and how its misunderstood.
Re: The Mentally Ill
I wonder what the exact stats are on suicide and depression in Pakistan. Last time I tried searching, there had been very few studies and even those were not exhaustive.
Re: The Mentally Ill
There are minimal and low-quality stats on most social issues in Pakistan. And if there are studies done, they're not well publicized. Probably some sociology student wrote a thesis and its been shelved in some random remote university library, never to really be used again.
Re: The Mentally Ill
I know of one man who is shackled in his yard to stop him physically assaulting visitors to the house. Hes from a village though. I feel sorry for people like that, he can possibly be cured but instead hes resigned to a dog like life.