MY heart sank when I read about the death of Robin Williams.
Williams has always been and will always be remembered as Mork to me, the extraterrestrial alien who came to Earth from the planet Ork in a small one-man, egg-shaped spaceship. Mork and Mindy was a famous American sitcom broadcast from 1978 to 1982. Little did we know that Williams would take his own life after suffering from depression. The ever-smiling public persona was quietly battling depression away from the glare of the public. This comedy legend was able to make everyone happy but himself.
Depression, anxiety and panic attacks are not a sign of weakness. They are signs of having tried to remain strong for so long. One in three of us go through depression or panic attacks once in our life.
What is worse is that one in every four persons who contacted The Befrienders Kuala Lumpur last year expressed thoughts of suicide or had a plan to do so. Those between the ages of 21 and 40 made up the biggest group in the 21,507 who sought out Befrienders KL and about 60 per cent of them were women. Their concerns comprised relationships (24 per cent), psychiatric (19 per cent), family (13 per cent), social (8 per cent), job (7 per cent), marital (7 per cent) and other (15 per cent) problems.
Depression, a common psychological disorder, affects about 121 million people worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that depression is the leading cause of disability as measured by Years Lived with Disability and the fourth contributor to the global burden of disease.
Less than 25 per cent of those affected (in some estimates, less than 10 per cent) by depression receive treatment. Nearly half of patients with depression remain undiagnosed for years or are inadequately treated. A large number of patients from rural areas remain under the care of religious healers and may never receive correct treatment. Stigma is still is a significant barrier. The majority of patients do not receive evidence-based treatments.
According to the WHO, depression is expected to be the leading cause of disability by 2020. Here, the Health’s Ministry’s Mental Health Unit’s public health physician, Dr Norashikin Ibrahim, said as the country becomes more urbanised, Malaysians were facing more job-related stress and ran a high risk of developing psychosocial problems. She said among children and adolescents, loneliness, parental discord, poor parenting styles, parents’ mental health and parent-child relationship could all contribute to the state of their mental health.
Other factors that could also lead to poor mental health are poverty, homelessness, unsafe environments, peer pressure and unemployment.
University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre psychiatrist Prof Dr T. Maniam said stigma related to mental illness was preventing people from seeking help and should be addressed. He stressed that people must talk openly about it and public education has to be intensified to demystify mental health issues. Dr Maniam also said that the nation’s suicide rate was under-reported. It is estimated that the current prevalence of suicide is six to 10 people per 100,000.
Results of the 2011 National Health and Morbidity Survey showed 12 per cent of Malaysians aged between 18 and 60 suffered from mental health problems. Generally, there has been an increase in mental health problems over the past 10 years and is expected to rise over the next 20 years unless measures are taken to address these issues.
It is imperative that depressive disorder be considered an issue of public health. It is important to provide effective treatment to patients and to reduce the burden of disease on the nation.
Babara Kingsolver, an American novelist, essayist and poet, once said: “There is no point treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, ‘There now, hang on, you’ll get over it’. Sadness is more or less like a head cold — with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.”