Mental health disorders ranked among top 10 illnesses in world: World Mental Health Day today

Mental health disorders ranked among the top 10 illnesses in the world, while more than 37 percent people world-wide suffered from depression. Depression has been identified as a major public health problem world-wide and in terms of the burden of illness, it will rank second to ischemic heart disease by 2020.
This was stated by mental health professionals while talking to Business Recorder with reference to World Mental Health Day being observed here like other parts of the World on October 10 in a bid to create awareness among the people about mental health issues. This year's theme of the day is " Making Mental Health A Global Priority: Scaling up services through citizen advocacy and action".
According to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) report, one in every five people in the world suffered from a mental disease, which required mental healthcare. They said 50 percent of the problems appeared before the age of 14. About 450 million people are suffering from some form of neuro-psychiatric disorders of which around 121 million are suffering from depression and 800,000 die by suicide each year.
To mark the day, various organisations have planned programmes in a bid to remove stigma attached to the disease of mental illness. Department of Psychiatry Fatima Jinnah Medical College/Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in collaboration with World Psychiatry Association (WPA), Zone-15, Pakistan Psychiatric Society, South Asian Forum, Pak Chapter and Services Institute of Medical Sciences, is holding a function in which former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Mian Mehboob Ahmed will be Special Guest while Professor Abdul Majeed Chaudhry of FJMC will be Chief Guest.
Among others, Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry, Dr Nasar Sayeed Khan and Dr Aftab Asif will address. Pakistan Medical Society is also holding a function to mark the day. Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry, Head Department of Psychiatry FJMC told this scribe said mental problems had increased in the population due to socio-economic problems. He said a large number of people needed health care, but they were reluctant to consult mental health doctors.
He, however, said that following Islamic teachings could help save people from mental illnesses. He said the West had progressed in science and technology, but had failed to provide peace of mind to its people. He said that suicide is a leading cause of death among teenagers and adults under 35 while in depression, body immune system of the victim weakens and as such the victim is more prone to various diseases such as cardiac problem.