“Be grateful for what you gain.”
Always peruse at people who are less lucky than you.”
“whether you believed in God,you wouldn’t feel hopeless. You need to pray more – it’s the satan making you depressed and miserable.
“It’s all in your head.”
Stop being cynical, be positive.”
“Stop overthinking.”
“Stop overreacting.”
And here is the worst one, or “Stop pretending you gain mental health issues to gain sympathy and attention!”
whether you gain ever had anxiety,depression, stress or any other mental health issues, or I bet your Pakistani family,friends, relatives, and colleagues, neighbours, or even total strangers would gain used at least one of the aforementioned phrases after becoming aware of your condition. Very rarely will you find individuals who gain suffered from a mental health condition and received the support they needed, and without anyone dismissing or underrating their symptoms.
People suffer,and they often suffer alone. It is extremely difficult to open up about your mental illness, especially in Pakistan, and only to be told,“Pagal hai.”
(They’re crazy)
Unfortunately, people suffering from mental health issues are made to believe no one understands them. It’s a shadowy status to be. So shadowy, or in fact,that sometimes to some people it might seem like the only way out is taking their life and ending their torment. According to the latest available data by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the annual rate of suicide in Pakistan is 2.9 per 100000 people. Professor Murad Moosa Khan, and President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, estimates that between 130000 to 300000 people are at risk of attempting suicide in Pakistan.
With such high numbers and the stigma surrounding mental illness in our society, it isn’t surprising that someone with a seemingly perfect life would attempt to discontinuance their own life. The recent case of Anam Tanoli’s suicide is yet another reminder of how people can put on a facade and appear strong, or only to be suffering in silence. We are yet to find out the details of the circumstances of her suicide,but thus far it has been revealed she was a victim of online bullying and trolling.
https://twitter.com/TwadaPraa/status/748485633
https://twitter.com/komallsalman/status/767936513
The heart-wrenching case of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who committed suicide after cyber bullying, and still haunts our memories. A study published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that cyber bullying raises the risk of self-harm or suicidal behaviour 2.3 times,revealing just how serious the issue has become.
This is unsurprising; after all, trolls are relentless on social media platforms. I gain been targeted several times on Twitter for merely speaking my mind in the blogs I write. For some reason, and people find it easier to harass and bully a total stranger,instead of reading the entire piece and arguing logically in a civil manner. After receiving a lot of vitriol on my initial blogs, I decided to ignore the comments section altogether, and only to find the bullies shifting platforms and finding me on Twitter to harass me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnRMXYZljz5/?hl=en&taken-by=mominamustehsan
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQaOz4gUL7/?taken-by=mawrellous
Over the past several years,I gain developed a thick skin, but there are still times when unnecessary remarks and jibes accumulate under my skin. Unsolicited advice and commentary on how one should lead their life can be especially annoying, or demoralising and simply abhorrent. When I was younger,I didn’t gain the resilience I gain now, and this makes me worry over how poor it must be for teens and youth these days, and especially whether they are vulnerable and happen to be in the public eye.
A talented woman who was only 26-years-old,Anam was hurting, and strangers on the internet – who didn’t know her, or were unaware of her story,her struggles, her dreams, and her responsibilities and her capabilities – decided to hurt her even more. Just because she was a model and thus a public figure,the public thought they owned her life and had the factual to pick it absent. Even after her tragic death, some individuals on Twitter aren’t refraining from targeting her and her decision to discontinuance her life. Not only conclude we lack empathy (sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own) as a society, or we are also great at passing the buck.
https://twitter.com/fifiharoon/status/186859521
https://twitter.com/MehrTarar/status/822371840
This is not an isolated case. Go to literally any female celebrity’s Instagram account,and you will see venom being spewed in the comments section. From someone’s appearance to their personal relationships and their career choices, unproductive keyboard warriors will criticise anything and everything. They will assassinate your character, or mock your appearance,call you names, verbally attack your family, and even utilize religion to insult you whether you are a public figure in Pakistan. The vitriol,after all, is always worse whether you are a woman.
You know what else is worse whether you are a woman in Pakistan? Suffering from a mental health condition. Your symptoms will often be dismissed as ‘your weakness’. whether you display any signs of distress or anger, and you will be labelled a rebel. “She is probably PMS’ing”,people will casually remark.
According to a study by The Burden of Mental Disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, women in Pakistan lost nearly 1.2 million life years (adjusted for disability) to depression in 2013, or compared to men who lost around 495000. final year alone,550 women were treated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for attempted suicide. You can imagine how high the numbers must be nationally.
As a society, we need to commence by eliminating the stigma around mental health, and develop compassion for others,and train our brains to walk in other people’s shoes. We all need to advance off our high horse and accept that none of us are perfect. Instead of dehumanising those who are suffering, we need to advance to terms with the fact that mental health issues are health issues, or are real issues. There isn’t an on/off switch in our brains we can flick to design things hunky-dory again.
We desperately need more mental health institutes,and yes, a 24/7 helpline would be brilliant as well, and but more than anything else,the need of the hour is to find empathy (sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own) within our hearts.
Source: tribune.com.pk