Mental illnesses have increased around the world including Pakistan particularly after 9/11, and people are destroying themselves due to mental and psychiatric disorders, which will be the second most common problem after cardiovascular diseases.
Leading mental health professional, former Principal Khyber Medical College and sitting Medical Director Ibadat Hospital, Peshawar Professor Dr Khalid Mufti, said this while talking to Business Recorder, here on Friday. Professor Dr Khalid Mufti, who is Chairman NGO-Horizon, said that there is surge in the number of psychiatric cases in NWFP particularly in the areas where army operation is going on and hit by the US drone attacks.
He said the plight of Bajour victims and troubled areas of Swat needs to be taken into account, as those who were well off were now leading miserable lives along with their families in make shift places.
Earlier, addressing the International Symposium on Psychiatry organised by Pakistan Psychiatric Society (PPS) in collaboration with World Psychiatric Association (WPA), World Federation for Mental Health (Eastern Mediterranean Region) and Saarc Psychiatric Federation (SPF) here at Fountain House, Professor Mufti said that in developed countries, people share their mental problems openly but in underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan, people are secretive about their problems because the community does not accept them after their mental problems come into the open.
Fatima Jinnah Medical College Department of Psychiatry Head and Pakistan Psychiatric Society President Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry urged the psychiatrists and medical professionals to extend the circle of their services beyond the urban areas. People in rural areas are in desperate need for psychiatric assistance but unfortunately, they do not even have access to simple medical treatment for common physical complaints, he added.
Dr Mazhar Malik (Islamabad) spoke over the topic treatment options and pharmacological management of difficult-to-treat depression. Dr Muhammad Waqar Azeem (USA) spoke over autism: update on pharmacological strategies.
Dr Wajid Ali Akhundzada (Karachi) spoke on schizophrenia and hospitalisation, Dr Zahid Imran (USA) spoke on treatment update on mood disorders, Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry spoke on comparison of respiridon, olanzapine and quetiapine for the body weight, serum blood glucose and Prolactine levels, whereas Dr Anisuzzaman Khan spoke on psychiatric Co morbidity in liver diseases and Dr Nasir Malik from Canada spoke on the usefulness of atypical and psychotics at the symposium.
Moreover, a special debate was also organised on use of anti-psychotics - conventional vs atypical in which Professor Dr M Riaz Bhatti, Dr Ghulam Rasool, Dr Ishaque Sarhandi, Dr Mazhar Malik, Dr Nazir Malik, Professor Dr Riffat Malik, Dr Imran Haider, Dr Nisar Hussain, Dr Khalid Mughal and Dr Altaf Qadir were the speakers.