Humour helps Kashmiris fight stress: Mental health experts

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 20

Dr Arshad Hussain, Kashmir’s leading psychiatrist, said on Wednesday that levels of distress in the community in the Valley was “quite high”, but Kashmir’s culture and humour helped people cope well.

Quoting a recently released survey on mental health by the Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in collaboration with Action Aid, Dr Hussain said: “All stress is not translated into disease. We are still coping well and are resilient.”

About the global trends with regard to mental health, he said global leaders often talked about 3 Ds — depression, diabetes, and drug addiction.

He was speaking during a one-day awareness programme on mental health in Kashmir organised by ‘Beadaar’, an NGO, at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar.

Mental health professionals, experts, professional hands, and journalists spoke on theme “Let’s talk about mental health”.