Open your eyes and your minds

Major mental disorders in Pakistan are depression 6% schizophrenia 1.5% and epilepsy 1 – 2 % but these are only the ones that are documented there are many cases that cannot be diagnosed because people never make the effort to go to a therapist. It saddens me to see people with such potential, being slave to the society and its dilemma. A society where if you visit a psychologist you are tagged as a MENTAL patient. The idea is so strong that people with actual issues would go to the ( quacks, peers, faqeers) rather than a licensed professional for guidance. Every other day there is news reports on how a child is beaten to death because parents believe that their child who might only be suffering from. An intense epilepsy episode, is possessed by a demon. They will take their children to these animals who will “beat the demom out of them”, and when the child is injured with this cure they don’t take them to jail because they “cured” the child. Since as a society there is so little awareness about such cases and people deal with it so offhandedly. These scenarios aren’t uncommon even in the poshest area of Islamabad.It’s time we took the problem by the horn, educate people to take mental illnesses as seriously as they take physical ones. Even the most uneducated villagers don’t treat diabetes or heart attacks with prayer they go to the city to a doctor so why not with depression why not anxiety and mania why would you let your children die, your wives molested at the hands of some fraud rather than to go to a person who is licensed to help you deal with this.Why must you choose people’s opinion over your peace and health? Must we lose a dear one to depression, an illness we find trivial and laughable before realising the true effect it has.Must we stay blind to the cruelty that is going on in our country just because it’s considered taboo.Too long we have let ourselves be blinded by opinions and labels. It’s high time for us to stop measuring our worth and significance by the people’s view. In the end I would request people to be kind to one another because sometime we don’t realize how sad, alone or depressed an individual is and our lack of empathy can be the push for someone to take their life. Be kind to all around you so people can find solace and ease everywhere. Be kind for it won’t cost you a penny?. Be kind to save a life.