Karachi: ‘Mental health is no different from physical health,’ saying goes. Mental health issues can be inherited through a person’s parents or picked up in their environment. Mental problems can be brought on by a variety of behaviours, including drug usage, smoking, and use of tranquilisers, said Prof. Dr. Imran Bashir Chaudhry, Chairman of Psychiatry and Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Ziauddin Hospital. He was talking at 16th interactive series of ZU Dialogues, titled ‘Make Mental Health and Well-Being for all a Global Priority’, organised by College of Clinical Psychology, Ziauddin University.

Dr. Anila Amber Malik, Professor, and Chairperson of Department of Psychology, University of Karachi in reference to domestic violence, she stated, “Although women are frequently victims, men are also susceptible to it. Stop classifying things and dividing men and women. In particular, in sports and colours. Same is true of rage and aggression. Instead of claiming that men are more prone to these emotions, cease saying that children imitate their parents’ behaviour from an early age. We need to comprehend various habits of both people in a partnership. “Drugs won’t help your mental health if you don’t express yourself, you’ll die of frustration”.

 If you want to make your life better, make other people’s lives better, as stated by Dr. Mohammad Imran Yousuf, Psychologist, Master Trainer-NLP and Clinical Hypnotherapy. Giving students a great piece of advice, he continues, “Don’t run for percentage it’s no use in our future I believe. Nobody is going to question you about your percentage or GPA in future fields but what they will notice is your skills, your ability, and your expertise. Parental difficulties were discussed with students by Dr. Uzma Ali, professor and Director of Institute of Clinical Psychology.

“Role of family is crucial in every child’s life. Parental counseling is crucial while raising children. “Are we ready to talk openly about some topics which are bold enough to be discussed”? We are not working towards creating that awareness that everybody has a space to talk about issues that are not discussed openly. Those issues which are brushed under carpet those issues have to be discussed on big platforms such as sexual problems so that people feel free to talk about it”. Prof Dr. Zainab Zadeh, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Ex-Dean and Director of Institute of Professional Psychology, Bahria University, Karachi.

In his remarks, Dr. Syed Ahmed Asif, Head of Department, Assistant Officer, Department of Neurology, Liaquat National Hospital said that my theory is that competition is ingrained in children from an early age, making them believe they must compete for greatest jobs and grades, which leads to despair and anxiety in young person.“It’s ok not to be ok”, despite fact that importance of mental health is now being recognised by people all over world, there is still much work to be done, especially in Pakistan”, said by Dean of Faculty of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Dr. Shehla Sidiki in her welcoming speech.

In concluding remarks, Prof. Dr. Irfan Hyder stated that spending time with your children is important, but be careful what you ask for, if you ask for your agenda, that means you’re taking his time and if you talk about his agenda, that means you’re giving him your time.

During dialogue session moderator Amir Shahzad, convener of ZU Dialogue shared a survey results collected from different parts of world about mental health cases during the lockdown and endemic (July-20 to June-21), anxiety percentage increased from 6.33 percentage to 50.9pc, depression 14.6pc to 48.3pc, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 7pc to 53.8pc, psychological distress 34.43pc to 38pc, stress 8.1pc to 81.9pc”.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 29 2022

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