NEPAL: Different culture sharing the same concept, mental health issue.
Last April 25, many of Nepal people died when earthquake hits the place. It reaches more than 8,700 people. As the country begins to rebuild, mental health professionals are reaching out to those in need.
Nepal is a country full of different cultures and traditions; but when it comes to mental illness, each of these cultures shares the same concepts. In Nepal, most of the people think that suffering from mental illness is the same as being mad, becoming unfit to remain in society and the family due to loss of control over self, or even being possessed by a holy spirit or a black magic.
Solicitor Dristy Gurungsaw said that many people in Nepal is in grief. “If it doesn’t get treated or if you don’t intervene in such grief or trauma, in the long run it might create some mental health issues for people.” he added.
Mental health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder; it is the “psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment”. From the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.
Gurung works for Transcultural Psychosocial Organization(TPO) Nepal, an organization that advocates for mental health laws and act. Organization say that Nepal can have major repercussions after a natural disaster. They also heard of cases of suicide and post traumatic stress disorder.
According to UN resident coordinator, millions of people in Nepal are still in need of some form of assistance. People who have no home to return lives in tent.
“During group counseling they realize they are not the only person who has the problem, other people also have the same problems so slowly they cooperate and their tolerance to face the problem increases,” Bhattrai, a counselor with Women’s Rehabilitation Center (WOREC) Nepal said.
The organization focuses on community experiences and building empathy among victims, serves as an important way of healing people in Nepal. Image courtesy of MHN Nepal.