Srinagar, May 01 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, a sharp increase in mental health problems has been witnessed since 1989.

At the lone Psychiatric Hospital in Srinagar, doctors registered more than 60,000 patients last year compared with just 1,500 patients in 1989. It is believed that the figure only represents the tip of the iceberg. Many do not visit mental health experts because of the huge stigma attached to mental illness.

Leading Psychologist, Arshid Hussain said that there is an alarming mental health crisis, adding, the flow of people seeking psychiatric help gets higher each day. "I am getting an increasing number complaining of insomnia, nightmares, anxiety and unexplained pains." He added that mental health services are dangerously inadequate in occupied Kashmir.
 
"Thousands of people have suffered trauma because they've seen killings, explosions and other forms of violence," said Pervez Masoodi, a doctor. "Villagers come in droves to seek help for their traumas, but we can't do much as we're under-staffed," says Masoodi, adding, "The psychiatric care crisis needs to be urgently addressed. We need counselling centres across the occupied territory."

Mushtaq Margoob, another leading psychiatrist, estimated one million people have suffered from some form of depression, with a number displaying suicidal tendency.