KARACHI: Experts at a seminar marking World Mental Health Day on Wednesday said more than five million people in Karachi alone were facing issues relating to mental health and most of them could not be treated because of lack of facilities and increasing poverty.

The seminar, titled ‘Karachi: Youth in changing world and mental health’ was organised by the Faran Institute of Behavioural Sciences at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi. Prof Raza-ur-Rehman, Dr Mohammad Siddique, Dr Hina Imran and other speakers talked about recent trends causing increased mental illnesses among the youth of Karachi.

Read: What causes 'mental illness' among Pakistanis

They said in comparison to other cities, issues relating to mental health had affected the teeming metropolis more.

Mental problems in Karachi youth increasing as anger, intolerance and violence on the rise in youngsters

“According to international surveys here every fourth individual and one in 10 children is suffering from mental health issues,” said Dr Siddique.

He said more than five million people in Karachi alone were enduring mental health issues while anxiety and depression were the leading causes.

The experts said internationally it was recommended to spend a penny on curing mental health to save four pennies.

They said anger, intolerance and violence were on the rise among the youth in Karachi and its trickledown effect had caused irreparable harm to educational institutions and the city as a whole.

“If such intolerance is not reined in, it would become impossible to control and prevent chaos and uproar in the society.”

Unlike many other countries, said an expert, just six per cent of Pakistani youth could attain education for more than 12 years. They added those people had to endure the challenges like educational pressure, increasing use of drugs and sexual harassment.

They said half of all mental ailments began among the people in their teens and most of them remained undiagnosed and untreated, as neither parents nor teachers were capable enough to identify symptoms of those disorders.

“The third biggest cause of death among people aged 15-19 is suicide,” said Dr Siddique.

He added that the actual number of self-harm figures was much larger than the one which was officially reported.

“It [needs] to be investigated how economic and social degradation, law and order situation and violence and educational and social pressures are becoming root causes of mental ailments,” said a speaker.

The seminar identified a number of problems being faced by the youth, which included anxiety and fear, depression, drug abuse, suicide, violence and aggression, low level of tolerance, lack of coping strategy, insomnia due to increased use of electronic gadgets, relationship and self-esteem issues, loss of values and respect, stress at educational institutes, insecure future and career, no goals and objective of life, virtual instead of real life, pornography addiction and sexual abuse and also because of no facilities being offered by the society that could allow them to have hobbies.

They recommended improvement in support system, awareness at grass-roots level, elimination of stigma and dilemma, improving culture of libraries, healthy indoor and outdoor sport facilities, career guidance counselling facilities, drug addiction detox and rehabilitation programmes, mental health facilities, awareness and referral, and research and surveys about youth and mental health in schools, colleges and universities.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2018