Has the number of mental patients increased? – 24 hours |
Information about the sharp increase in the number of mentally ill people in our country has been published in the mass media.
The information states that 2 million 219 thousand 145 people in Azerbaijan during the current year sick registered. 14,409 of them suffer from mental disorders and behavioral disorders. In 2015, this figure is reported to be 7,764. But how true are these numbers?
Why is mental illness on the rise so dramatically? Psychologist Elnur Rustamov says that in addition to the increase in the number of mentally ill children, there is also an increase in the number of children suffering from behavioral disorders:
“We should consider information as one of the main factors. Most people today are extreme information loaded with This is one of the factors that cause psychological condition and mood disorders. One of the biggest causes of secondary psychological disorders is the increase in the number of people addicted to harmful habits. We can also add to this the increase in the number of people who use psychoactive substances, alcohol, and other drugs. These also cause great problems in people’s physiological and psychological condition.”
Elnur Rustamov also said that we should not treat mental health as an ordinary event. Because many physical problems are rooted in psychological problems. According to Sabina Rashidova, head of the treatment advisory department of the Mental Health Center, it is true that there is an increase in the number of people suffering from mental disorders and behavioral disorders. But the numbers are increasing due to more requests:
“50-100 years ago, there were not so many applicants. Due to the education of people in the field of psychological health, the increase in world view, the influence of the media, movies, and education, people were more attentive to their psychological condition and can more easily turn to a psychologist, psychotherapist, or psychiatrist. There used to be a bigger stigma: I go to a psychiatrist, they think I’m sick, they don’t hire me, I can’t start a family, they say I suffer from severe mental illness, they misjudge me. Currently, this stigma has decreased considerably.”
According to Sabina Rashidova, other reasons are related to the Covid infection and the 2nd Karabakh war: “Earlier, we diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder in individual cases. Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the main diagnoses suffered by our veterans after the war. In other words, it is a case of psychological anxiety caused by the effect of stress. Here, fear, the constant repetition of war scenes in front of one’s eyes, war entering dreams, sleep disturbances and other signs are in the foreground. The fact that there are more veterans among the people who applied to us recently shows that men’s psychological problems are more prominent, that is, men apply more than women.”
Sabina Rashidova added that applications are made for various reasons. Some people suffer from mental illness and want to be treated. Some are examined because they want to enter the work. Some need an examination to get a driver’s license. Some people want to adopt. According to him, there are people of all age categories among the applicants. However 20People between the ages of 45 and 45 are the majority.