Man complains of his heart or stomach whole life while reason is quite different: WHO national coordinator in Azerbaijan

Day.Az: What problems people with mental disorders usually experience?

Sevil Asadova: One of the most serious problems people with mental disorders face is stigma. Often it becomes so widespread that these people are not allowed to seek professional help for fear of getting stigma.

There are a lot of misconceptions in society that contribute to stigma resulting in discriminatory behavior. For example, "a person with mental health problems are prone to violence", "mental illness is not curable.” This is only a small part of misconceptions about people with mental disorders.

Q: What can you say about mental health of children and adolescents around the world, in particular in Azerbaijan?

A: Nearly 20 percent of children and adolescents around the world suffer mental health problems that lead to disability. One of the most common childrens’ diseases is post-traumatic stress disorder and hyperactivity disorder (or hyperactive syndrome attention deficit). Depression and suicidal behavior are currently the most widespread among adolescents.

Nearly 4 percent of individuals aged 12 to 17 years and 9 percent of individuals aged 18 years suffer depression. Depression is linked to the problem of youth suicide, which is extremely urgent in many countries in Europe and is the third leading cause of youth death. Alcohol and drugs during adolescence leads to many consequences.

Suicide and other behavior that threaten lives of adolescents and their environment are often related with acts of violence and deaths due to traffic accidents. The most common in Azerbaijan is a mental disorder associated with developmental disorders.

Q: What is the reason behind widespread mental disorders?

A: It is projected that depression will rank first among other diseases, surpassing today's leading infectious and cardiovascular diseases by 2020. The major cause of depression is stress. Various situations ranging from the most severe and to daily trivia can lead to depression. About 2-4 percent of people develop depression without external causes in the background of complete well-being. This is chronic disease as tuberculosis or hypertension, but it is not a physical, but mental suffering.  

The common form of depression is seasonal affective disorder that occurs in autumn and winter. Many people are absolutely unaware that they have depression, because it often shows itself as a physical illness. In this case, people complain of heart or stomach whole life while the reason is quite different.

Q: What is WHO doing in Azerbaijan in sphere of mental health?

A: WHO's cooperation with Azerbaijan has always been quite fruitful. The recent years have seen a significant progress in mutual cooperation between WHO and the Ministry of Health on strategic priorities on protection of public health, including in the field of health policy.

WHO provides technical assistance to the Azerbaijani government to implement policies, plans and programs that aim to improve health, including mental one.

Under the two-year cooperation agreement for 2008-2009, draft strategy on mental health of population that meets the highest international standards was designed with the WHO support.

/Day.Az/