Why we don’t talk about mental health in Pakistan — Assembly

Artist Maliha Abidi shares how she’s breaking down stigmas around mental health in this illustration series.

Talking about mental health isn’t the easiest thing in Pakistani society. One of the biggest reasons is because people don’t understand the idea of mental health and think that talking about it will make you look crazy, sick and undesirable. People are afraid of being judged. Yet, there is a growing mental health crisis in my country.

Women don’t speak up about the psychological effects of sexual harassment and abuse because they worry no one will want to marry them. I have seen parents discouraging girls from talking about it and women getting gaslighted and told, “You probably had a bad dream.” They don’t share out of fear of judgement, instead carrying the trauma with them their whole life.

I have known girls as young as 15 and 16 get married to someone double their age. No one asks them what they want or how it is impacting them.

When young women get married, they often have to give up on the careers they worked so hard for. In-laws force female medical students to quit their practice because everyone wants to show off that their daughter-in-law is a doctor but no one wants to actually support the woman professionally. Men are generally seen as the breadwinners of the house and if a woman works, it implies he doesn’t earn enough to support the family. Families also often want women to focus on being a homemaker and taking care of the children. That is great if that is the woman’s choice and it is not being forced on her. All of this contributes to a woman feeling failure and regret in regard to her career and a sense of dependence on her husband. A medical student studies and trains for six years in Pakistan. To give up all that work hurts their mental health and self-esteem and they don’t feel that they have a ton of control over it.

These and many other factors contribute to the deteriorating mental health of the women and youth in my culture. Because of stigma, fear of judgement and lack of support, they don’t have the freedom or resources to work through these issues. People often ask, “Log kia kahen gay?” (“What will people say?”). No one wants to talk about mental health because they worry others will judge them. There aren’t enough studies in South Asia on mental health but the World Health Organization estimates that around 20% of the world’s young people have a mental health condition. I want people to understand how common mental illness is and that just like we run to the doctor when we get physically ill, we need to seek help when we know our mental health is suffering.

Since I was in school, I have been passionate about stimulating conversations about mental health and providing children and women with the resources they need. Recently the term intersectional mental health got stuck in my head and that provided me with a clear path on how I can help. Intersectional mental health is understanding that there may be multiple factors threatening the mental well-being of your or your loved ones all at once. It can be a combination of internal and external issues or combination of identities, including their race, struggles they face due to their gender, their appearance, their profession and more.

I created my organisation, Story of Mental Health (SOMH), to provide women and young people with a platform to feel safe and access the tools and resources they need to support their mental health. I want SOMH to be a bridge between mental health resources and the people. I aim to use art and creativity to encourage people to find non-traditional solutions to mental health issues, provide information on free counselling opportunities and hold workshops for students and creatives from marginalised communities so they can find opportunities and get out of the circumstances negatively impacting their mental health. I hope to build a community where people can feel safe talking about their mental health and can seek help. I want to change the way my culture views mental health, one person at a time.

Maliha Abidi

is a Pakistani-American student, artist and author from the city of Karachi who is currently studying neuroscience at the University of Sussex. She is also pursuing her passion for art and women’s empowerment through projects like her book, “Pakistan for Women: Stories of extraordinary women” and her upcoming book, “Rise: Extraordinary Women of Colour who Changed the World.” You can follow her on Instagram.