By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
One in four people sufferd from some sort of mental illness or trauma in Sri Lanka, according to Dr. Jayan Mendis, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
"There is an increase in the number of people seeking treatment for mental disorders in Sri Lanka. About eight percent of Sri Lankans suffers from depression and it interfers with school, work or family," Dr. Mendis told The Island recently.
According to statistics the overall occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder was 7.0 percent, with 32.6 percent suffering from anxiety and 22.2 percent experiencing depression symptoms.
Dr. Mendis said "The causes for mental illness in Sri Lanka were both varied and complex. The social culture is changing, life expectancy has increased. So with people getting older, the chances of getting a mental illness, like dementia, are growing."
He added that major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder required medication to restore the imbalance of chemical substances in the brain that caused them.
"In many cases, mental illnesses can be treated with medication. About 70 percent of the people with a mental illness can live a productive life in society," he said.
"Everyone has a role to play to end discrimination against mentally ill people. We have to train more doctors to treat the mentally ill. We need to spread out care for them around the country and create a good network in each area so that we can tackle the problem over a larger area," Dr. Mendis said.
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