Comments: Mentally ill Jakartans growing in number

Oct. 11, p. 1

More Jakartans suffer from mental health problems, according to the Jakarta Health Agency, a trend experts blame on harsh living conditions in the crowded capital.

Agency head Dien Emawati said that in the first six months of 2011, the agency recorded 306,621 patients with symptoms of mild mental health problems, up from 159,029 over the same period last year.

Your comments:

One problem is that many Indonesians are very superstitious and still see a mental disorder as something to do with black magic.

That’s also the reason why many are kept in a bad state. Plus, there is of course a very limited supply of psychologists in Indonesia.

David Irving
Jakarta

Many Jakartans are so busy working to earn money that they forget their God. We will go crazy without God.

Jane Lumanaw
Singkawang, W. Kalimantan

You have published the photo of Jamil, who has intellectual disabilities and his parents have chained his leg to the wall.

Such “treatments” are sign of extreme poverty, helplessness and illiteracy.

Rahim
Germany

In Jakarta, everything is money. Nothing is free. Humans need to eat, drink, shelter and so on, while people do not have a job.

On the other hand, a psychiatrist serves 400,000 to 500,000 patients. It is feared that this will lead to new patients in the field of psychiatry itself, because psychiatrists will not able to serve this amount of patients.

Fahren Marpaung
Kinston, Jamaica