Views of Abnormality in Indo Pak Subcontinent

Abnormality in a behavioral condition is regarded as unusual or dysfunctional which results in impairment in the individual's functioning. The locals of subcontinent hold beliefs that mental illness is an act of devil. The person is controlled by evil spirits and witches. Some viewed abnormality is caused by the deviation from God. A popular myth that the more distance from Allah, the more you will suffer and the more you are towards practicing your religion the more you will be shielded from illness is also assumed today.

Society has always been working for the treatment. In the past usually the cures were always unethical and inhumane and results proved to be fatal. Exorcism was common in ancient times. The effective services include earliest institutional care of the mentally ill that has been traced back to the fifteenth century where facilities were established by Mohammad Khilji (1436–1469). During the reign of Mughals in subcontinent, one of the treatments to cure mental illness among Muslims was Graeco-Arab Medicine. The major concepts in this approach were Mizaj, Tarkeeb and Ittesal. After the occupation of British, different services were started for mental illness which was being practiced in west. The current services in mental health in Pakistan and India were also set up initially by the British. The lunatic asylum in Calcutta in 1787 was formed by an English surgeon, Dr. George M. Kenderline.

After the war of 1857, Muslim religious scholars were able to diagnose the misery of the sufferers of mental illness and established the necessary facilities e.g. the Khanqah Imdadia which was established by a leading religious scholar of India, Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1863–1943) to provide the cognitive structure and emotional strength through faith in Allah. (Safdar A. Sohail, 2017).The condition of mental health services post 1947 was negligible. People mostly preferred traditional healers which include hakims and pirs. First modern facilities psychiatry unit was established in Karachi in 1965 and then in 1967.

With the passage of time in last three decades with the help of WHO people in urban Pakistan are more inclined to prefer specialists or psychological treatment whereas in rural areas people still consider it a stigma to visit a doctor for mental health issues. Till date there are very few licensed psychologists and psychiatrist available in Pakistan for our 200 million populations. Government doesn’t invest much funds for mental health. The individuals suffered from domestic violence, terrorism, substance abuse etc. are not facilitated for their treatment because we don’t have enough beds for them to be admitted if necessary.