Afghanistan Times
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It is a fact that gender violence, poverty and associated social problems fuels widespread mental health problems among Afghan masses. Mental problem causes depression and erratic, aggressive behavior, as well as psychosomatic issues. It is very much infuriating news that Afghan people is suffering a lot from depressive disorders. Minister of Public Health (MoPH) said that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recent estimation showed that more than a million Afghans suffer from depressive disorders and over 1.2 million suffer from anxiety disorders in the country. However, actual figures are likely to be much higher than above-mentioned estimation. WHO said this during celebration of World Health Day in Kabul to increase awareness and mobilize action around depression, a common mental health disorder and the leading cause of ill health and disability across the world. According to latest WHO estimation, more than 300 million people are living with depression globally. Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders which is high among Afghans is curable if recognized on time. Unfortunately, poor knowledge, cultural barriers as well as the lack of trained professionals and adequate infrastructure often prevent those affected from recognizing the problem or seeking support in due time. Those who are suffering from depressive disorders are willing to stay in dark room alone, and want to have no contacts with anyone. However, they are curable if others try to talk with them and bring them in the society. They already lost interest in common activities that people normally enjoy from it. However, people to people contact helps a lot those who are going though mental problems. We should not let these people to feel discouraged, sad, hopeless, unmotivated, or disinterested in life in general. This is the duty of everyone to pull back these people from darkness to light. They should not be abandoned to any stage. Even they could think of attempting suicide in order to say bye from this planet forever, if these people further pushed toward isolation. We should be kind to our brothers, and sisters who are suffering from mental disorders. We should push them to further social activities, and get together with family or friends regularly. Through this, they would give courage to explore and express pain, anger, fear and other emotions, which at somehow help them to get easy with gloominess. This is a collective obligation to every Afghans to help their countrymen suffering from this illness.
