Seven-year-old Ramesh started playing online games in as a recreational activity as his parents gave him a smart phone to keep him pre-occupied. Gradually, he got addicted to them and went to the extent of threatening his parents that he will kill himself if he is not given the phone to play. Worried parents took him to noted psychiatrist Madhu Bindu who provided the boy ‘Play Therapy’ and helped him overcome his addiction.
It is not only children but both adolescents and adults who get addicted to mobile phones and spend long hours on them, ultimately requiring psychotherapy to treat the troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviours associated with mobile phone addiction, observed London-returned psychiatrist during the World Mental Health Day programme here on Tuesday.
People should shed sedentary lifestyle and spend more time in pursuing healthy hobbies like playing outdoor games, gardening, raising pet animals, and more instead of getting glued to mobile phones or television sets. There is a growing trend of each family member keeping themselves busy with their mobile phones and avoiding in person interaction with other family members, she observed.
Explaining this year’s theme ‘Mental Health Is A Universal Human Right’, she pointed out that good mental health is vital to our overall health and well-being. One in eight people, including young people, globally suffer with mental health issues and experienced human rights violations, she said, adding that the social stigma should be eliminated. She emphasised the need for more psychiatrists to tackle mental health issues which were on the rise. Referring to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, she stated that only 0.75 psychiatrists per one lakh population were available in the country.
Prakasam District Legal Services Authority Secretary K. Syam Babu said that many people often fall prey to online apps providing ‘scam’ instant loans and go to the extent of committing suicide unable to bear the harassment by the scammers who initially sanction personal loans instantly with little or no paper work and charge a high rate of interest. As a consequence, victims of loan apps suffer from severe mental distress, he said. They could lodge complaint with the police and seek the intervention of the DLSA for relief, he added.
Addiction to narcotic drugs, alcohol, hash oil, pain killers and e-cigarettes were also on the rise especially among the youth, said Dr. Sridevi, who takes care of a rehabilitation centre for people suffering from mental health issues here.
Siri Hospital Manager Lakshman Reddy said alcohol was the most commonly used psychoactive substance by people. It has been found that over 30% of liquor consumers got addicted to it, he said, adding the withdrawal symptoms were very severe among the addicts in Andhra Pradesh.
