South Asia lagging behind in psychology treatment

Tuesday, 29 July 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

East is faced with dilemma of having less service, professionals and resources
Sri Lanka is no exception with mental illness not treated as priority
Lack of funding and professionals a barrier

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam The South Asian region is gaining momentum in adopting best practices in various specialties in medicine, but it is lagging behind in psychology, a top professional in that field said yesterday. Pointing out that the West has progressed well in this regard, World Association for Psychology Rehabilitation President Dr. Afzal Javed opined the East has not been able to achieve similar progress since its governments are yet to treat mental illness as priority. “When we compare the East from the West, the prevalence or the incidence of mental disorders is almost the same for both. The difference is in the approach. The West allows its people to have greater access to mental health services, in the East it not so. We are faced with the dilemma of having less service, less professionals and less resources and when we have the resources, these are inadequately distributed. We spend most of our finances in the cities. The main difference is the concept and the practice,” he said at the Asia Pacific Forum on Mental Health 2014 organised by Richmond Fellowship Lanka that kicked off yesterday.

The conference is a two-day event where once every two years top psychology professionals get together with a member country playing host, to share latest developments, discuss issues and the way forward. Last year the conference was held in Perth, Australia. Shedding light on local context, Richmond Fellowship Lanka President Dr. Frank Jayasinge said Sri Lanka too follows the footsteps of its regional peers in terms of psychology practice since the Government does not give much emphasis to mental illness. “Work in mental health work has kicked off, but different countries at different levels. In Sri Lanka we are quite backwards because the Government hasn’t done much. There are a number of barriers their way. One is the funding and the other is the availability of doctors. For the entire country there are only 38 doctors, and they are concentrated in Colombo. That is a problem,” noted Dr. Jayasinghe. According to him, in Sri Lanka one in every six person has a mental illness of some sort. Another pressing issue in Sri Lanka, he added, is the social stigma faced by those with mental illness. While at any given time at the National Institute of Mental Health (previously known as Mental Hospital Angoda) there are 500 patients who are cured, most of them go back to their previous mental state since their families do not come for them.

“There is no point in curing people unless they are ready to go back to the society. Unfortunately, the families of those with mental illnesses are reluctant to take the patients back in fear of becoming a victim of social stigma,” he noted. To help address the issue, Richmond Fellowship Lanka runs a rehabilitation program where the recovered are given life skill training, helping them to move on in their lives. Dr. Jayasinghe opined the Government can help by funding the ongoing programs rather than starting new ones. Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe