There is a Russian saying that goes something like this: “There are no mentally healthy people, just undiagnosed ones.” And if you live in the sub-continent, particularly in Bangladesh, you are more than likely to stay undiagnosed for the rest of your life, despite your financial, educational, or family background.
Why? The answer to that question should be quite clear to anyone who lives in Bangladesh. Despite being on par with the rest of the world in many aspects, Bangladesh is lagging seriously behind when it comes to mental health awareness.
Sometimes so much so that any individual seeking professional help for mental health issues is labelled a pagol.
It is unclear where this stigma stems from, but there is no doubt that it exists. And it can have seriously detrimental effects on an individual level, but more than that, it can affect the psyche of the entire nation if not addressed properly.
Contrary to popular belief, mental health issues don’t limit themselves to depression, suicidal tendencies, or plain insanity. It extends, and manifests itself, through violence or sexual misconduct, which is turning out to be an epidemic in Bangladesh at the moment.
There are many reasons for this. From a young age, any given Bangladeshi child is exposed to a certain number of things, and many of those things are not pleasant.
The rate of crime is high, there is constant political unrest, there are communal atrocities, just to name a few. On top of that, there are no regulations (not practically or realistically anyway) on what children watch or read. Disturbing content is very easily found.
These factors are bound to have a negative effect on any child’s mental health. That’s the story of the younger generations. As for the older generations, many have grown up during times of war, famine, and strife. These are also more than likely to have an effect on mental health.
In a 2007 report, the World Health Organization reported that 16.05% of the adult population in Bangladesh suffered from mental health disorders. To put that into perspective, that is over 26 million people. This is a figure from 2007, and there is no doubt that the number has increased in the last 11 years. It is my firm belief that this figure is also underestimated, given the stigma, since the report was based on self-reporting.
If you are still not sold, you could take a look at the mental health advice columns of the daily newspapers in Bangladesh, and also observe the spike in the number of suicides shortly after the results of the board examinations. Despite priding ourselves on hospitality, love for family, and inclusiveness, we allow way too many of our youngsters to die every year due to some numbers on a page.
The idea of seeking help or someone to talk to is so foreign to these students that they choose to kill themselves instead. That is the level to which mental health issues are stigmatized in Bangladesh.
What is being done about this?
Not much. The same 2007 WHO report stated that less than 0.5% of the total national health expenditures in 2005 was spent on mental health. Additionally, the report also displayed an alarming lack of psychiatry and psychology graduates. It is my strong suspicion that these figures have not improved very much in the last 11 years. In order to bring about positive change in terms of accepting mental health issues, the government needs to put time, effort, and money into the sector.
While it can be argued that the government has more important things to take care of rather than some intangible illness, it can also be argued that nothing is more important in Bangladesh right now than making sure that the next generation of Bangladeshis grows up mentally and physically healthy. The people also have a role to play. This has to do mostly with accepting and treating mental health disorders as seriously as physical illnesses. It will take time to usher in this change, but it needs to happen.
While the rest of the world is worried about things like the “ultra-liberal use of the word depression” or how “politically correct” culture is changing the way people live their lives, perhaps Bangladeshis needs to take a step in the opposite direction, and be more sensitive, particularly regarding our mental health.
Nibir Mostafa Khan is an intern at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).