DHAKA, Nov 12, 2018 (BSS) – Around 80 percent of the country’s unemployed women are being victims of different kinds of mental torture while only 10 to 20 percent of earning women face same kind of abuses.
This was revealed by a research report placed at a national level experience sharing workshop recently held in the capital organized by Dhaka Ahsania Mission.
According to the report, the unemployed women are usually victims of different kinds of domestic violence and discrimination. However, this percentage is 10 to 20 out of the total employed and earning women.
The country’s women are consisted 58.7 percent of the total workforce whereas they are getting 22 percent of their earning. However, the global trend is much higher as only 10 of 65 working women get share of their earning in the world.
In Bangladesh, 16.05 percent of the 18 years old above population and 18.4 percent of under 18 years are suffering from mild to major physiological problems.
As per an UN research 25 to 10 percent of women are suffering from frustration disorder globally that is 12 to 5 percent for men.
As per physiologists, many women in Bangladesh are getting in the mental disorder due to domestic violence.
According to a research titled “Violence against women and mental disorder: a qualitative study in Bangladesh” conducted by a group of physiologists, said between 50 and 70 percent of the country’s women face some form of violence, with the prevalence varying across different settings.
Violence against women is associated with a number of mental health problems including mood, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and somatoform disorders, it said.
The study found physical violence, verbal abuse, or social humiliation played a role in predisposing a woman in developing mental disorder, emotional or psychological trauma. ?
World Health Organization (WHO), in a mixed method research, reported violence as an important factor of poor mental health in women across countries including Bangladesh.
Professor of National Mental Health Institute Dr. Md. Golam Rabbani said a patient with mental problem takes more time to cure from the regular diseases.
From primary health workers to specialized physicians should be aware about the mental state of their patients during diagnosis, he suggested.
Referring to many case studies, he said it is common to see that the mental disorder creates hindrance in curing from other diseases. Even people with physiological problems are more exposed to many diseases compare with other people, he said.
Prof Rabbanni urged the government for further increasing budget allocation and manpower for mental health sector.
In recent years, Physiologist Muhit Kamal said the cases of suicide, violence against women, eve teasing, drug addictions have been increased in a great extend.
Media can play important role in creating mass awareness about mental health to prevent these kind of social degradations, he observed.
Considering those, Bangladesh government had established 200-bed National Mental Health Institute at Shere-Bangla Nagar in the capital in 2001 with six specialized department – adult Psychiatry, child, adolescent and family psychiatry, geriatric and organic psychiatry, community and social psychiatric psychotherapy and forensic psychiatry.
Besides, there are 500-bed mental hospital in Pabna, 40-bed psychiatric ward at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and similar ward at Combined Military Hospital here.