Mental health involves the functionality of a person. If someone suffers from mental disorder, without any proper channel, that person is a ticking time bomb. Anyone can experience mental health issues. What differs from one to another is the acknowledgement of the need to get better or the amount of effort one put in managing mental health issues.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (KKM) reported that one in three of the country’s adults are at risk of developing mental health condition for the last 5 years. It is expected to be the second highest form of health problem after heart disease by 2020. Mental health is generally related to depression, anxiety and stress. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, it is indicated that every 3 in 10 adults aged 16 years and above (29.2%) have some form of mental health conditions. Workplace is one of the key environments that affect our mental wellbeing and health. Apart from that, research conducted also indicate that mental health issues among students are increasing yearly.
The situation is deemed worrying as findings indicates twofold of increase for the reported cases related to mental disorders over the past 10 years (10.6% in 1196 and 11.2% in 2006). Those experiencing mental disorders may bring about devastating impact towards themselves and tend to develop suicidal behavior as a mean of escape. Proper assistance and guidance are required. On the other hand, mental disorders are commonly higher among younger adults, with adolescents aged 16 to 19 (34.7%), followed by those aged 20 to 24 (32.1%), and those aged 25 to 29 (30.5%).
There are many challenges towards mental health in Malaysia especially Public Attitudes towards mental disorders. Studies indicate that 62.3% of those suffering from mental disorders would not let others know about their conditions, meanwhile 61.0% believed sufferers are not to be blamed for their own conditions and 51.7% believed that people with mental disorder are often dangerous and violent. Vast majority (76.5%) of respondents do not believe that anyone can suffer from mental health problems.
Stigma and beliefs also seen as to be the main factors to contributing challenges as it is dominated by religious or spiritual explanations. Malaysia comprises of multiple ethnicity with three major ethnic groups: Malays (61.7%), Chinese (20.8%) and Indians (6.2%). These ethnic cultural has brought a different definition of mental health that may differ in perspective on what mental health really is. As a matter of fact, the living demands of todays’ world lead to the causing of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. Unemployment, financial crisis, marital problems, drug abuse and surroundings are factors that could have contributed to the twofold jump in mental cases in Malaysia over the last 10 years. Furthermore, the prevalence of mental health problem is highest among teenagers and low-income earners. The demands of living in current times are causing depression, anxiety and other mental health problems in young people.
Study conducted by Mohd Faizul bin Hassan and his team from the Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, discussed on the issues and challenges on mental health in Malaysia. Due to the rising number of mental health related issues over the years, mental health landscape have been spotlighted as a critical issue. There is an urgent need for further enlightenment by government and society to take this matter into hand as it gives impact to the economic burden and mainly contributing to productivity loss.
Lack of Awareness
The issue of mental health is not given enough exposure and attention. Some were pointed out that it might be due to complacent behavior of those in the mental health spectrum. They might have experienced certain levels of cognitive dissonance within themselves, in the sense that they would deny that they are suffering from mental conditions despite the obvious symptoms. Lack of awareness about mental health poses a challenge to mental health issues. A research in 2014, revealed that almost one in five Malaysian adolescents are depressed. One reason for this condition is the insufficiency of knowledge about psychiatric disorders and available treatment options. Globally, it is stated that more than 70% of people with mental disorders did not receive treatment from health care professionals. The public need to be equipped with sufficient knowledge about mental disorder to ensure that those with minor or major symptoms will receive proper treatment.
Stigma
Stigma is a negative perception that creates prejudice which leads to stereotype and discrimination among groups of people. From the mental health perspective, stigma has been identified as a significant barrier to help-seeking and care. The cultural by ethnic backgrounds has brought different definitions on mental health.
Amongst the Malays vital parts in mental health is associated with spiritual and religious factors. Several respondents of the study noted that people with mental disorders would commonly be referred to religious practitioners or shamans, rather than medical professionals. Generally, Malays have the tendency to associate mental disorders with the term ‘gila’ (insanity) or ‘sakit jiwa’ (illness of the soul), rather than a scientifically proven symptom, and is commonly viewed as a supernatural phenomenon. A large part of the Malay society believe that mental disorders come from spirit possession or as a form of social punishment. The culture itself have strong influence in Malay society as the general concept of mental disorder is an outcome of abandoning or neglecting traditional values. Malay population which is represent as the largest race in Malaysia often associated mental disorders with the supernatural causes, God punishment, and excessive mental exertion.
Similar with the Malay, the Chinese concepts of mental health also influenced by the traditional Chinese medical beliefs based on Confucianism and Taoism, where these principles refer to the concepts of Yin and Yang as the symbol of life. Most of the Chinese believe that imbalance of the Yin-Yang can lead to mental disorder. Comparatively to Indian beliefs the concept of mental health amongst Indian is centralized to the concept of the mind-body dichotomy. Whereby it indicates the four aims of life “Dharma”, “Kama”, “Artha” and “Moksha”. Indian believe that those who suffers with mental disorders is caused by the imbalance of these four elements.
The cultural sensitivity of different faiths and belief systems are deeply influenced by culture and religious. This situation may be associated with society in taking traditional way in treating mental disorders. There are numerous studies that investigate on the relationship between mental health and religious belief. The stigma itself from community and policy makers looking at mental health with low regards.
Policy Insurance
Most insurance company did not recognize mental disorders as part of critical illness that need to be cure by provided proper treatment. Standard health insurance policies do not cover for the pre-existing conditions including mental disorders. This situation leads to discouragement of people seeking proper treatment for mental health issues that they are suffering as to avoid tarnishing their medical records.
Rising Trend of Mental Illness
Many of the study respondents felt that there is an increasing trend of mental disorders among Malaysians. Since it is considered as a taboo, people who suffer from it are deemed hesitant to discuss it openly. Malaysians, just like other Asians, are known to have a lesser degree of openness as compared to their western counterparts. Hence, anxiety towards social desirability and negative connotations associated with mental disorders are thought as the barriers for these patients to disclose their symptoms to medical professionals. The respondents believe that a typical Malaysian would perceive the risk of potential embarrassments from their social circles to outweighs the benefit derived from medical and psychological consultations. Therefore, Malaysians are thought to be highly sensitive and conservative regarding mental health issue.
Work-related Stress
Nowadays, the issues of mental health are increasingly prominent in the workplace. This is expected since mental health is considered as one of the contributing factors towards individual’s overall health status. Poor mental health is associated with the higher absence and presenteeism rates. The contribution of job control to absence is greater for those in poor mental health. Moreover, the occupations itself known to be associated to the high risk of mental illness. Obviously, the working environment related to the highly challenging are more at risk of contributing to the mental health conditions compared to those who feel their working environment is less challenging. There is another side of this where organization should put priority into mental health issues in the workplace as an integral component of employees’ wellbeing. Mental health problems impact the employers and businesses directly by the issues of increased absenteeism and negative impacts on the productivity and profits. Additionally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health disorder cost the global economy $1 trillion from the loss of productivity a year, whereby depression being the leading cause of the mental disorder. Therefore, highlights should be given to mental health and wellness to improve individual potential and increasing work performance.
Negative Economic Impact
Malaysia is not an isolated case since mental disorders are recognized as a global problem that affects the productivity and socio-economic conditions of the country. Mental disorder can directly affects business owners in terms of potential revenue lost due to absenteeism and subsequent reduction in productivity levels. The issues of mental health is a global issue, indicates as 12% part of global burden disease. By the year 2020 they will account for nearly 15% of disability-adjusted life-years lost to illness. Mental disorders affect the level productivity as it is related to the economy impact due to treatment cost. Apart from the burden to the person itself, it can also affects the economic where the labor supply losses.
Mental disorders can affect every part of a person’s life, including physical health, occupation, family, social life and relationships. The issues of mental health in Malaysia is a serious matter and in an urgent need to further enlightenment by the government and society. Mental health is common and can affect anyone regardless of age or race. Greater awareness about mental health and early diagnosis can reduce the statistic of suffering from mental health related problems.
