Daily Times

“Aik baat puchun maro gy to nahi? Yeh marna kis sy seekha tum logon ny?” (Translation: If I you ask you something, you won’t beat me up, right? Who taught you to beat people up like this?)

This was said by Salahuddin,the ATM robber, in a video leaked to the media. He was arrested a couple of days prior to the video getting released. His arrest made national headlines after hisact of mockingly sticking out his tongue captured our national imagination.

Salahuddin is not more. He died in police custody. In all likelihood, he was tortured to death. Salahuddin appeared mentally challenged. Did society fail him? Could intervention at the right time have helped Salahuddin and prevented his mental digression.

The picture of Salahuddin sticking should remain etched in our national memory. It can be a bitter reminder of what we must avoid becoming as a nation.

Salahuddin’s killing comes at a time when we are condemning RSS actions in Kashmir. As we rightly condemn a hate filled philosophy across our border, we should not lose sight of how quickly things can go out of hand if our “minds” are not nurtured through education and proper upbringing.

Without clarity, confidence and lack of direction, our youth are losing their focus and falling into the hands of extremist elements who exploit them for their nefarious designs

Violence and inhumanity are increasing in our society. Our society is on a downward spiral. Our youth are suffering from mental health issues, but they have no one to talk to. We are turning a blind eye to their plights. We need to change this. Sadly, there are taboos that prevent those issues from being discussed openly. Getting help from apsychiatrist or psychologist is considered a sign of weakness.

As a clinical psychologist, I wish to highlight the importance of understanding the evolution of a human mind. A mind develops right from childhood. What is learnt during childhood cannot be unlearned.

Sigmund Freud said that the first five years of a child’s life are the building blocks of his/her personality development. This period determines whether a child wil be able to utilize his/her true potential.

In developed countries, along with parenting, the focus is on selection of able and trained elementary teachers. The idea is to make sure that teachers fill the gaps in development that parents are unable to fill through parenting.

Sadly, our teachers are ill equipped to fulfil this role. There are no criteria of selection of elementary school teachers. As a result, they are unable to make meaningful contribution to the mental development of children.

This also pervades secondary education in Pakistan. There is no career counselling to kids who suffer from trauma or those who become anxiety prone due to bad grades. Contrast this with Singapore where schools send letters to parents before exams. This helps the children in finding an outlet to release their anxiousness and restore their self-confidence. These small steps go a long way in developing and maintaining the mental well-being of a child.

Due to lack of this in our schools, our children end up developing unresolved conflicts. When they step into college, they are confused and don’t have a direction. They are unable to make sense of the world around them.

Without clarity, confidence and lack of direction, our youth are losing their focus and falling into the hands of extremist elements who exploit them for their nefarious designs.

Cognitive skills development is not the focus of our education. There is hardly any emphasis on brainstorming, out of the box thinking or creativity. Rote learning is the call of the day.

Even in college, while psychology is taught as an optional subject, focus is on organisational psychology without any emphasis on behavioural psychology. The latterenables the students to understand the nuances of human behaviour and equip themselves to deal with daily stresses of life and avoid situations where individuals or a group of people can take undue advantage. Moreover, all across our educational institutions there is hardly any education imparted on depression and anxiety- two mental ailments that afflict millions of Pakistanis. As a result, students who suffer from anxiety and depression are unable to cope with these, let alone discuss it with family or friends due to the stigma attached to discussions.

As a result of these collective failures, our students and professionals don’t know how to deal with life issues. The professional world is also ill equipped to impart continued education that can help out professionals suffering from mental ailments. Our society is very good at reinforcing failure: by hiding scars and proclaiming all is well.

The collective result of this is a digression of the mind and a lack of direction. Many amongst us are victims of this: professionals (e.g. police officers) and well as people like Salahuddin. Our police as well as the victims of their brutality represent a failure of the state to provide a healthy environment in which healthy minds can develop and grow. The result is increasing brutality and violence.

We are all responsible as a society.

What can we do to change this? To begin with, we must understand the importance of sound mental health in society. If a friend or family member talks to us about mental health issues, we should take it seriously. We should be open-minded to give them the comfort of pouring their heart out to us about their problems and issues. What happened to Salahuddin, can happen to anyone. We need to tackle this head on as a national issue which is as important as our economy, population and other issues. It is high time that we start thinking about our children and our people as humans and not merely as objects. We need to think about our future generations. A healthy body and a healthy society can only result from a healthy mind. We must invest in our future now.

The writer is a clinical psychologist