We have discussed depression in the characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata in my previous posts. Mental trauma perhaps didn’t occur to common folks. Before modern era, Indian common citizen was accustomed in simple living and high thinking.
Depression is the outcome of modern lifestyle and culture. Modern people are running towards physical amusement and worldly longings. They want to fetch limitless prosperity. Naturally when it’s not possible to earn, they are going through a mental trauma.
Especially Educated youths are in great trauma due to the unavailability of jobs. The security of women, economically and socially, are diminishing. Society is changing, so the new generation. They are choosing their life partner. So if it’s up to the mark, then fine. If not, it will be troublesome. Therefore, they have to face mental trauma.
Mental, physical and social health, are vital strands of life that are closely interwoven and deeply interdependent. Mental disorders affect people of all countries and societies, individuals at all ages, women and men, the rich and the poor, from urban and rural environments.
Depression is more likely following particular classes of experience – those involving conflict, disruption, losses and experiences of humiliation or entrapment. Many people living amidst the rages of conflict suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Today, we shall try to find out the depression in the people of Kashmir where the people had to face a long term insurgency.
Depression in the Population of Kashmir:
To determine the characteristics of depression in the population in Kashmir where a low-intensity-conflict has been going on for the last two decades.
The non-combatant civilian population was surveyed. The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale was used to measure symptoms of depression in community populations.
Due to continuing conflict in Kashmir during the last 18 years there has been a phenomenal increase in psychiatric morbidity. The results reveal that the prevalence of depression is 55.72%. The prevalence is highest (66.67%) in the 15 to 25 years age group, followed by 65.33% in the 26 to 35 years age group.
Females have an overall prevalence of 60 per cent while as males have 51.34 per cent. Significant difference in the prevalence of depression among males and females is in the age group of 36 to 45 years and 46 to 55 years who have p values of 0.005 and 0.013 respectively.
Females have a higher prevalence of depression in all the age groups than males and it is highest in the age group 26 to 35 years (68.66%). Females in the age group of 15–25 years also have similar prevalence rate of depression (68.64%). In males prevalence of depression is highest in the age group of 15–25 years (64.61%) followed by 62.65% in the age group of 26 to 35 years (62.65%).
The difference in the prevalence of depression among males and females is significant. Depression is much higher in rural areas (84.73%) as compared to urban areas (15.26%). In rural areas the prevalence of depression among females is higher (93.10 %) as compared to males (6.8%).
How To Control It?
Mental health is an integral part of overall health and quality of life. Effective evidence-based programs and policies are available to promote mental health, enhance resilience, reduce risk factors, increase protective factors, and prevent mental and behavioural disorders.
Innovative community-based health programmes which are culturally and gender appropriate and reaches out to all segments of the population need to be developed. Substantial and sustainable improvements can be achieved only when a comprehensive strategy for mental health which incorporates both prevention and care elements is adopted.
0 World Health Organization has ranked depression as the fourth among the list of the most urgent health problems worldwide and has predicted it to become number two in terms of disease burden by 2020 overriding diabetes, cancer, arthritis etc.
The magnitude, suffering and burden in terms of disability and costs for individuals, families and societies are staggering . Mental disorders are universal, affecting people of all countries and societies, individuals at all ages, women and men, the rich and the poor, from urban and rural environments.
Mental functioning is fundamentally interconnected with physical and social functioning and health outcomes. The mental health is influenced by displacement through conflict and war, by stresses on families, and by economic adversity.
For the many persons who face uncertain futures (including those by conflict or disasters), the burden of serious emotional and behavioural disorders afflicts their lives. Many people living amidst the rages of conflict suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
At the dawn of a new millennium, communities and societies increasingly face situations of armed conflict. While this trend is apparent in different parts of the world, it is of particular concern to the South Asian region.
Violence is a phenomenon intrinsic to class-based societies which are inherently unequal and oppressive. Violence here may either take implicit forms in the manner of institutionalized oppression and inequality, or a more explicit form of state oppression through the use of state sanctioned institutions, such as the police, the military and courts.
It could even assume a more direct form, whereby civilians manage the task of a weakened state through militia groupings. Large-scale violence may also take the form of mass uprisings against the oppression of dominant classes. Civilians are increasingly being targeted in these episodes of contemporary violence.
To reduce military casualties, civilians are used as protective shields; torture, rape and executions are carried out to undermine morale and to eradicate the cultural links and self-esteem of the population.
Most civilians witness war-related traumatic events such as shooting, killing, rape and loss of family members. The extent of psychosocial problems that results from this mass exposure to traumatic events can ultimately threaten the prospects for long-term stability in society.
Despite growing evidence over the past two decades of the terror – both of the physical and mental dimensions of war upon civilians – much of post-conflict activity tends to concentrate on physical reconstruction – roads, bridges and buildings.
Moreover, even though psychological and psychic injuries can have more damaging, long-term consequences as other injuries from a situation of conflict, they remain undetected and distanced from any plans for rehabilitation. Partly this is because these injuries are difficult to fathom in terms of the enormity of scale and the delayed manifestation of symptoms which can sometimes take years to surface. Physical violence may be easier to identify, name and quantify than psychic or symbolic violence.
Kashmir has been regarded by many as heaven on earth. Its splendid beauty and hospitable population is legendary. Over the past 18 years Kashmir became associated with violence.
The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of depression in the non-combatant civilian population of Kashmir where a low-intensity conflict has been going on for more than 18 years. Study was conducted during 2005–06.
Security concerns are amongst the dominant themes in the minds of people living in Kashmir. This owes to the fact that death, injury, destruction of property is the notable features of life here due to conflict, disturbances and turmoil for the last 18 years.
Many have suffered tragic incidents of a war-like situation, which by their nature are beyond the endurance of common man. Many are witness to bloodshed that is characteristic of such situation. Thousands of people have lost their lives or limbs, and thousands have been rendered orphans and widows. Scores have disappeared. A colossal damage to property is evident.
Many educational and healthcare institutions have suffered damages. Those who have survived all this, continue to be reminded of their vulnerability through the media of killings that make the headlines almost daily.
Moreover, with disruption of development works consequent upon warlike situation, added concerns are unemployment, poverty, relationships etc.
A vicious circle of events has been created comprising torture, disappearances, displacement, killings, ballistic trauma, etc. paralleled by a state of mind wherein grieving, insecurity, oppression, poverty, uncertainties of career and relationships etc. are the major themes.
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