A mentally challenged man was attacked and battered to death in Karachi after a group of people saw him throwing stones at children. The victim was rushed to the hospital immediately after, but his injuries proved too severe to survive. This is not the first time an incident of this nature has unfolded in Pakistan. In 2018, mentally challenged Umair was murdered by the Dolphin Squad in Lahore, who allegedly fired in self-defence and went on to register an FIR against him. Interestingly, the police failed to mention his death in the FIR; exonerating themselves of all responsibility. Earlier this year, a 21-year-old woman, said to be mentally challenged, was sexually assaulted by a vegetable owner who was later arrested. Prospects for the mentally ill are abysmal everywhere but the situation is outright heart-wrenching in Pakistan. According to the WHO, only 400 psychiatrists and five psychiatric hospitals exist in the country for a population that exceeds 225 million–that is one psychiatrist per half a million people. The stigma surrounding mental illness is so strong that most patients never seek treatment at all; fearing the social backlash and alienation that may follow. Even the seemingly educated middle class hesitates to step inside a psychiatrist’s office lest they be ridiculed by the people around them-after all, “it’s all in your head anyway.” For those living in rural areas, things are even worse. Outdated myths surrounding mental illness continue to run rampant. Insanity is often attributed to supernatural causes-a mentally ill person might grow accustomed to hearing that their affliction is a “curse from God” or “kala jadoo.” Family members will then proceed to seek spiritual guidance for the afflicted person, which inevitably makes their condition even worse. This is especially true for people living in poverty, who rely on superstition to explain what they cannot understand. In a country where even the mentally healthy face a myriad of psychosocial stressors that interfere with their daily lives, it is not surprising that mentally ill people, who are more vulnerable than the average person, are entirely shunned to the sidelines. It will take a slow and painstaking paradigm shift before attitudes towards mental illness begin to change in Pakistan. Until then, we must brace ourselves for many more transgressions of this nature. *