More People In Malaysia With Mental Disorders

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Bernama) -- More Malaysians are having mental disorientation due to pressure resulting from changes in the surroundings, a competitive life and increase in social-economic standards, an expert said Sunday.
Clinical psychologist Mahadir Ahmad said according to a survey by the Health Ministry's Public Health Institute in 2001, about 21 per cent of the country's population had mental disorientation problem.
He also cited statistics on cases reported at government hospitals since six years ago with 108,324 people having mental disorientation and depression and of the total, 58,265 of them were between 30 and 50 years of age.
"Perhaps, there were more people with the problem but due to lack of awareness, they did not seek treatment and there was no record of their cases," he said during a public forum on health and mental disorientation here.
Mahadir said lack of promotion on mental health, especially in the rural areas was among the reason for those having the problem did not seek treatment.
He also said the stigma that those who went to hospitals for mental treatment were insane was also a factor and expressed the need for the media to play their role in creating awareness among the public on the importance of psychological treatment to prevent one from getting mental health problems.