Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Health experts have highlighted the fact that Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir is facing a mental health crisis.

A study conducted by psychiatrists from the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Kashmir, in collaboration with ActionAid India, said that cases of depression-related illnesses in the region were almost double that of the rate inside India.

“The 11.3 per cent morbidity of severe mental illness in adults is very high, almost double (than in India), much of which is undetected and untreated,” the study said.

According to Kashmir Media Service , the situation is compounded by an inaccessible mental health care system.

Experts, in the study, recommended that mental health services be expanded and integrated into the primary healthcare system in order to contain the growing number of people with mental illnesses.

They said the treatment gap is very high in Indian occupied Kashmir, where depressive and anxiety-related disorders constitute most of the mental illnesses.

“Only 12.6 per cent of the people with mental illness sought help from health services and 6.4 per cent consulted a psychiatrist,” added the study.