There has always been a stigma attached to mental health in Pakistan and other low income areas, as mental health is seen as equivalent to being mad or being excluded from society. Poor mental health in particular depression has the disability weight of 0.35 and overall the epidemiological data by the WHO shows that 5% of the disability life years are caused by depressive disorder alone as compared to other infectious fatal disorders in the world today.
There is an increasing need to tackle depression and other mental health problems in order to reduce the burden of mental disorders in the world. There are many organizations that are working on fighting the stigma related to mental health all over the world including Pakistan.
One such organization is Talk2me.pk, an online free of charge mental health helpline that will give free counseling sessions over the phone and help the individual towards a better life. They have set up a helpline on the following numbers: 03174290001, 03110665522 for anyone who needs to talk about anything or anyone who is going through a difficult time.
Talk2me.pk works in three simple steps, when you call them up and tell them about your issues you will then be matched with a counselor and if one doesn’t like their counselor they can also request for a change.
The mental health helpline Talk2me.pk is the brainchild of Adeel C. Hijazi and the team consists of counselors from all over Pakistan who can speak multiple languages.
