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Disturbing
SINCE 2015, the Iloilo City Police Office recorded 22 suicide cases and five suicide attempts. The youngest to do so was 14 years old. A “major social issue” was how a city councilor, a medical doctor by profession, described the incidents.
In 2012 alone, the World Health Organization reported 2,558 cases of Filipinos committing suicide, averaging to seven suicide cases per day! The Department of Health (DOH), for its part, reported that one in five Filipino adults has some form of mental illness, topped by schizophrenia, depression and anxiety.
This is disturbing, to put it mildly. But what’s the bigger picture? There appears to be a growing number of mental illnesses that are left untreated due to lack of mental facilities and of physicians who are sufficiently trained to handle and treat mental conditions. At present, there are only an estimated 490 psychiatrists and 1,000 nurses working in psychiatric care, and even less general practitioners trained in early assessment and management of common mental health problem in the community. The number of addiction specialists, psychologists, occupational therapists, guidance counselors and social workers are extremely inadequate to meet the mental health needs of 100 million Filipinos.
DOH data show there are only two mental hospitals, 46 outpatient facilities, four-day treatment facilities, 19 community-based psychiatric inpatient facilities and 15 community residential (custodial home-care) facilities in the entire country. Almost all mental health facilities are in major cities, while the only mental hospital in the National Capital Region houses only 4,200 beds.
Just this May, the Senate approved on third and final reading the Mental Health Bill under Senate Bill No. 1354, which sought to provide affordable and accessible mental health services to Filipinos with mental disabilities. The enactment of the said measure would usher in a new chapter in mental healthcare policy and service delivery in the Philippines as it would integrate mental health in all health services and policy initiatives.
Under said measure, the Philippine Council for Mental Health shall be established as an attached agency under the DOH, to provide for a coherent, rational and unified response to mental health problems, concerns and efforts through the formulation and implementation of a National Mental Health Care Delivery System.
Many of the health problems we encounter arise from mental conditions. Our physicians see a significant proportion of common symptoms such as fatigue, abdominal pain, and back pain for which they don’t find a cause. If we’re able to identify patients’ psychosocial stressors and common mental and behavioral conditions such as depression, anxiety and substance use, we can understand more about what drive these symptoms and be able to give appropriate care and treatment.
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