Need Stressed For Promotion Of Mental Health To Prevent Psychiatric Disorders

The speakers at the national Psychiatric Conference, has underlined the need of the mental health promotion and seeks to foster individual competencies

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Nov, 2017 ) :The speakers at the national Psychiatric Conference, has underlined the need of the mental health promotion and seeks to foster individual competencies, resources, psychological strengths and to strengthen community assets to prevent mental disorder and enhance well-being and quality of life for people and communities.

Three day 22nd Psychiatric Conference under the theme of Promotion of Mental Health, Building Partnerships was inaugurated at a local hotel here on Friday in joint collaboration of Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry (CJI), Pakistan Psychiatric Society and the Department of Psychiatry, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro.

While addressing the conference, Senator Dr. Kareem Khawaja said that positive psychology does not claim that mainstream psychology is negative or less important because it focuses on pathology and mental illness.

Senator Khawaja further informed that the integration of mental health into Primary care was essential to meet population needs yet faces many challenges if such projects were to achieve impact and be sustainable in low income countries alongside other competing priorities.

He said that mental health disorders represent a largely hidden but substantial proportion of the world's disease burden. Projections of the global burden of disease place depression as the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years by 2030 and mental and substance use disorders are currently the leading cause of disability worldwide, Senator Khwaja informed.

The current era, we are going through, is undoubtedly full of multiple and multidimensional turmoil, he said and added that one can see a lot of unsolvable problems around, ranging from corruption to terrorism; from lawlessness to interpersonal conflicts.

Senator Dr. Kareem Khawaja said that alongside there were endless efforts by the responsible agencies to rectify the situation, but in vain, he informed and added that society is not finding the roots of the problems for which a major contributory factor.

He said that the mental health disorders are often neglected, especially in low- and middle income countries, which have limited resources to tackle mental health challenges. In addition to causing significant burden within the lives of individuals, families, and societies, mental health disorders increase the risk for comorbid conditions, said Kareem Khawaja.

He said that for promotion of mental health the role of general practitioners and family physicians was crucial because they were in a position to understand the peculiar situation of a patient.

The history of each patient should be recorded and maintained in a proper manner. Senator Khawaja said that the media should play its vital role in creating awareness and highlight that mental disorders had been stigmatized.

Majority of the people consider the psychiatric hospitals as mental hospitals and there is the need of removing such impressions, he added. He said that the numerous challenges and constraints in the system and the future health of the nation depend on this decentralization initiative and all our efforts should be concerted to support and facilitate the new system, which will mature into institutionalization of the health services at the district level.

While expressing regrets over allocation of only two percent in the GDP in health sector, Dr. Kareem Khawaja emphasized upon the government to allocate maximum grants so that the people could get their right of getting proper medical treatment at their nearest.

While addressing the conference, the former Vice Chancellor Liaquat University of Medical and Health Science LUMHS, Jamshoro Professor Dr. Naushad A Shaikh said that over 1.6 million population of the country was suffering different kinds of psychiatric disorders and it is high time that the Government should consider the fact with utmost concern and ensure the appointment of trained Psychiatrists and nurses in each public and private hospital in order to address the issue.

He said that that Pakistan has been related as number 12 in the world where the people are suffering different psychological and mental disorders and by providing due attention, these affected people could be brought back to normal life.

Dr.Naushad said that by adopting preventive measures in controlling the all mental diseases and current psychiatrist practice is very important to knock out the silent killers. The patients must ensure the controlling of these diseases with healthy lifestyle and proper medical treatment, he added.

Chairman of the Psychiatric Conference & General Secretary Psychiatric Society Pakistan, Psychiatric Dr. Moin Ansari while speaking on the occasion emphasized upon the medical consultants to use easy language in the conferences, seminars and symposia so that the common people could also understand their valuable health related information for taking preventive measures against concerned diseases.

He said that psychiatry is a vast subject and there is the need of adopting serious measures with concern that depression and psychiatric diseases are on rise as a result of current living standard of the society.

Psychiatrist Dr.Moin Ansari said that Pakistan has been related as number 12 in the world where the people are suffering different psychological and mental disorders and by providing due attention, these affected people could be brought back to normal life.

He said that the major psychiatric disorder in which patients lose touch with reality is called psychosis. The psychiatric disorders are complicated with changing nature, adding that severity of symptoms may vary with time to time and with the impact of an individual's life stresses.

The conference was attended a large number of National & International Psychiatrists who will read the research papers during three day National Psychiatric Conference including Dr. Inam Rasool from Karachi, Psychiatrist Raza ur Rehman from Karachi, Psychiatrist Iqbal Afridi from Karachi, Dr.

Qadir Bakhsh Director Essex England , Professor Fareed Aslam Minhas from Rawalpindi, Psychiatrist Chester England United Kingdom, Psychiatrist Saeed Farooq, Professor Mowadat Hussain Rana (Lahore), Psychiatrist Malik Hussain Mubbashar, Professor Michael Crawford (London), Dr.Gill Green from United Kingdom, Professor Julian Simpole from United Kingdom, Chairman British Pakistani Psychiatrist Association UK Dr.

Shahid Qureshi and others. APP/fas/abd/