Doing that is obviously a long-term task. But it is one that should be made a priority.

We
desperately need to uplift our people and make it possible for them to live normal lives,
free of the degree of angst and anxiety they currently face. The tensions that arise from
economic difficulties also have a wider social impact. They contribute, for example, to
the high rate of crime in the country and also to findings that a large number of school
going children are clinically depressed. The exact figures are disputed, but organisations
have put the rate at as high as 25 or 30 percent.
The reasons for this arise from household situations as well as the extra pressures
children face because they know their parents struggle to cope with expenses for
education and expect high grades in return. The conditions at schools only worsen
matters, with only a miniscule percentage of privileged children able to obtain quality
learning. The state of our education system, with public sector schools offering very little
to their pupils, makes things worse.
Nowhere in the world should children feel compelled to claim their own lives because
they have failed an exam or been able to reach parental expectations. This has happened,
according to news reports, in the case of children at 9th and 10th grade levels or in some
cases even younger than that.
The problem of depression will also inevitably have an impact on the morale of a nation.
When so many people struggle with acute day to day problems that never go away, there
can be little hope for the optimism, initiative or the vibrancy that shows a nation on the
way to progress and success. It is quite obvious we are not on this road.
This of course is the reason why people seek change. It does not appear to be coming
their way any time soon from any direction. It is possible also that beyond Karachi, in the
more impoverished districts of Sindh and Balochistan the two poorest provinces in the
country the rates of depression are even higher. No comprehensive study has been
carried out to assess the problem. But it is one that needs to be tackled.
It explains also the desperation of people to escape overseas in the hope of better lives
many in the process falling into the hands of unscrupulous agents when they attempt to
do so. A very large number are exploited by false promises which lead them nowhere.
Indeed they sometimes lead them to jails in foreign lands and even to death aboard
overloaded, illegal human trafficking vessels or at the hands of border guards. Despite
this they continue to go or attempt to smuggle their children to other lands.
The state of people has an impact on the state of any nation as a whole. The fact that so
much misery exists among us is not one that can be ignored. The PAMH has pointed out
that depression is the condition that hampers both domestic and working lives. It
recommends that in our circumstances it can be treated only through major social reform
aimed at reducing the immense pressures people feel.
Stress created by working extra-long hours, in a quest to earn more, has been rated as a
global cause for depressive disorders. It is also untrue that these pressures are just felt by

the very poor. The salaried middle class faces them as well and they have grown over the
years as a consequence of inflation and deteriorating social conditions. The healthcare,
education and social welfare structure has all but collapsed and this inevitably affects
almost everyone in the country.
Remedies to this are not easy to find; the problems have multiplied due to years of
mismanagement and neglect by one setup after the other. Things today are worse than
they were two or three decades ago. The reality is one we cannot deny and the truth is
that we have to come up with solutions. So far all our political parties, including the socalled revolutionaries who have staged their sit-ins and rallies, have not quite said what
they can do for the people. Politics remains centred around power and the lust for it.
But we cannot continue in this fashion. Something has to be done; solutions have to be
found. The primary duty of politicians and leaders elected by people is to find these
answers. The rate of depression shows just how much people need their problems to be
solved, or at least eased. So far no policy that we have in place has fully addressed the
issue. The small scale work done by charitable or developmental organisations can have
only a limited impact.
Given the findings that we now see laid down before us after the countrys first scientific
study conducted on depression it seems obvious we need to do something very
drastically. Allowing people to live as they do now is nothing short of a crime. Those
responsible for it chiefly the elements that wield power in the country need to be
punished for the crime. There is little possibility of this happening or an escape taking
place from the dark web of depression that holds us.
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.