Mental illness stigma prevents cures
JAKARTA (JP): Fear of humiliation still pervades the public and deters people from seeking medical assistance in treating mental illness.
Dr Nanang, head of Semarang's state-run mental hospital, lamented the prevailing stigma toward mental institutions and those inflicted with mental disorders.
"Many people think, mistakenly, that mental hospitals are only for 'crazy people'," he said in Semarang, Central Java.
Yesterday was National Mental Health Day.
Nanang said people were ashamed to go to hospital when suffering from mental depression for fear that people would regard them as insane.
He advised those suffering from mental disorders to seek early treatment because mental depression, if untreated, can lead to more serious problems which could heighten the number of juvenile delinquencies.
In Banda Aceh, Antara reported that 170,000 of Aceh's 3.7 million people suffer from mild mental disorders.
Head of Banda Aceh's state-run mental hospital Syaiful Anwar said 6,800 of those suffering from mild mental illness need to undergo special treatment.
He said most of the sufferers live in the eastern part of the province.
"Most of them come from poor families with poor educational backgrounds," Syaiful explained.
Experts have said that the upward trend of mental illness is caused by increased economic demands and the negative effects of the rapid shift from an agrarian to an industrial society.
Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Psychiatrists Dr. Dadang Hawari said 80 in every 1,000 Indonesians were mentally ill.
He also said that one in every 1,000 Indonesians was suffering from schizophrenia and only very few of them were being treated in hospitals.
Unfortunately, he said, the overall awareness of these illnesses is still low and people react to them in a negative manner. It is not uncommon in some remote areas to find those regarded as insane in stocks, with their legs locked between two pieces of wood.
"Even when the patients have completely recovered after treatment in hospital, their families are often reluctant to receive them back," Syaiful said. (prb)