TANVEEN KAWOOSA
Srinagar Oct 22 Valley registers increase in mental disorders among people with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) taking enormous toll in females. The latest study conducted in OPD of government Psychiatric Hospital reveals that over the period of 17 years patients reported with mental disorders have increased from 1762 in 1990 to 80,000 in 2007. According to doctors 62% of patients diagnosed with PTSD constitute females.
Admitting that there is manifold increase in the psychiatric patients noted psychiatrist Dr Arshid Hussain states,’’ During 80’s we use to examine 10-20 patients everyday in OPD now more than 100 patients visit the hospital and this is a tip of ice berg,’’.Adding further he explained that being emotionally sensitive Kashmiri women are easily susceptible to PTSD which is so rampant in Kashmir in wake of warfare.
Sample of PTSD drawn from OPD Government Psychiatrist Hospital reveals that 20% of patients have been tortured, 35% had close relatives being killed violently in front of them; 30% had been injured in shoot outs.
Asserting violence as a root cause of PTSD Dr Arshid maintains that social circumstances vis-à-vis turmoil makes women more predisposal to stress than their male counterparts. ‘’Social factors comes in to play when a women looses her only bread winner in the family. Majority of these patients have lost their family members in the turmoil which has drowned them in to vortex of problems. Struck by poverty Women have to play a role beyond that of home maker and resort to menial jobs to bring up their children,’’ says Arshid
Noted Educationist A.G Madhosh has made similar observations in his research study ‘’Women and children under the armed conflict in Kashmir, for the National Institute of Public Cooperation and child Development ’’ .The study highlights that the 80% of the war widows suffer from severe trauma owing to their husbands death and break up of family.
PTSD is an extreme reaction to extreme stress and the patients suffering from this disease relive the traumatic event of and on through nightmare and disturbing memories disrupting their lives. According to Psychiatrists women diagnosed with PTSD is just a drop in an ocean coming to the psychiatric hospital as poverty and stigma holds them back, equal role is being played by ignorance.
Dr Arshid further asserted that 70% of PTSD cases can be cured through prolonged medication however delay in seeking treatment is marring the chances of recovery. ‘’Owing to its somatic effects mental illness is often perceived as a physical ailment. By the time patients approach us they have already been examined by quacks and other medical practioners which minimizes the chances of recovery,’’ added Dr Arshid Hussain,’’.