KOTA KINABALU: Less than one per cent of Sabahans with mental disorder seek treatment due to the stigma attached.
Dr N Kumaraswamy
Psychiatrist and senior lecturer at the School of Medicine at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Dr Wendy Shoesmith, said around 10 per cent of the population were suffering from mental illnesses at any one time.
However, untreated mental disorder was prevalent in Malaysia as only around 0.8 per cent of those with such illnesses seek professional help.
“For severe cases like schizophrenia, some people wait for two years to get treated. In that two years, they would have lost their jobs, their friends, their relationships, broken marriages, and children would not understand why their parents do not behave normally,” she said.
Shoesmith added that mental illnesses would also impact on the economy as workers who suffer from anxiety or depression, the most common mental illnesses, would not be able to work efficiently.
She pointed out that the reason was the stigma attached to mental disorders, as well as people who are unaware that it was an illness.
“We have really good treatment now which weren’t available in the past. We can treat these things, so that they perform better at work, and better as parents,” she said in an interview during the International Mental Health Conference in UMS here yesterday.
Meanwhile, Dr N Kumaraswamy, an associate professor in clinical psychology in the School of Medicine in UMS, said 10 to 15 per cent of medical students were suffering from anxiety.
To address this issue, he said a mentor-mentee program was set up to help students who have problems in their academics.
“If the students with anxiety do not consult their teachers or mentors, their performance will decrease, causing more anxiety which affects their academic performance.”
Earlier in his lecture, Kumaraswamy said the physiological signs of anxiety included tension, palpita-tions, hyperventilation, sweatiness, while the psychological symptoms were apprehensiveness, avoidance, procrastination, disorganization and lack of confidence.
He added that moderate amount of anxiety could improve performance at difficult times.
However, it would be a problem when anxiety was felt when there was no real danger or when the feeling went on after the stress was over, he said.