‘Revelation that 1 out of 3 M’sians has mental health problems alarming’
KUCHING: The revelation by the Health Ministry to a national daily that one in every three adults in the country is grappling with mental health issues is alarming, said PKR Women national vicepresident Voon Shiak Ni.
She asked if the present state of socio- economic pressures in the country was making the people vulnerable to poor mental health.
“With the rising cost of living and the many social problems which plague the nation, our country’s state of affairs now range from issues of broken families to illegal gambling and teenage problems. This is proven by the rise in teenage pregnancies, baby dumping incidences and with more than 60 per cent of the population living at poverty line, these are ‘ ugly’ facts that show that our country is not doing well and so are our people.
“Besides that, the stress in coping with life and work, which includes the hours of traffic jams on the road after work every day, has indeed become taxing on our people so much so that some have taken to protest through rallies to fight for basic fundamental rights such as for a clean judicial system and clean government,” she said in a press statement yesterday.
However, she said in a way the revelation was good because people would be better informed and would seek help if they sensed they were suffering from a mental health problem.
The ministry’s just- released National Health Morbidity Survey (NHMS) revealed a drastic two-fold increase in the number of mental health patients from a decade ago, mainly caused by financial dif f iculties, failure to meet expectations and pressure from the surrounding environment.
It is also learned that many young adults were suffering from mental health issues because of poor parenting and environmental factors, among others.
Deputy director- general of Health ( public health) Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman told the national daily that the survey conducted last year revealed that 4.2 million out of 14.4 million Malaysians aged 16 and above suffered from mental issues.
He warned that fai lure to address the problem would spell disaster for them as most mental illnesses don’t improve on their own, and if left untreated might get worse and cause other serious problems.