Mental health of women is imperative for socioeco-nomic development of the country as no community can make progress until concentrating on this tick-lish issue, said Prof Dr Imtiaz Dogar, Head of the Department of Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Faisalabad Medical University (FMU). He was ad-dressing a seminar on “Women’s Mental Health” held under the aegis of Hometown Community Foundation (HCF) in collaboration with Faisalabad Medical University at Allied Hospital-II (DHQ Hospital) here on Saturday.
He said that mental health referred to physical, emo-tional and spiritual aspects of life. He said that men-tal problems were increasing among women due to various reasons including divorce, death of a loved one, physical illness and low income. The negative emotions such as depression, anger, resentment or anxiety in addition to lack of confidence further aggravate the situation, he added. He said that Inter-national Women’s Day had a specific theme every year. This time the theme for 2024 is “Invest in women: Accelerate progress” with the aim of tack-ling economic instability. He said that empower-ment means how much power you have. “We could empower females by providing them skills which would also help them to be independent and play dynamic role in national progress and prosperity,” he added.
Dr. Imtiaz said that the rate of mental disorders is higher in women. Hence, they should consult ex-perts and follow their opinion to maintain their men-tal health which is prerequisite for healthy society. President Hometown Community Foundation, Mu-hammad Saleem Balandia, said that the mental health of women was very important for political, social and economic development of the country. The World Health Organization has declared mental health as a basic and fundamental human right.—APP
