TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Depression, heart disease linked

Mental illness should be properly treated, otherwise it could cause permanent physical health issues, a psychiatrist has said

Elly Burhaini Faizal (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, October 6, 2012

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Depression, heart disease linked

M

ental illness should be properly treated, otherwise it could cause permanent physical health issues, a psychiatrist has said.

As people’s quality of life worsened, by 2020 depression could become the second leading cause of illness after ischemic heart disease.

Muhammad Reza Syah, a psychiatrist from the Urban Mental Health Center at the Soeharto Heerdjan Mental Health Hospital, said on Friday that it was urgent for people to prevent mental health problems as they could lead to illnesses that might cause physical problems.

“Physical and mental well-being are closely related, so we can’t prevent illnesses unless we work on our mental health,” he said on the sidelines of a visit to the Soeharto Heerdjan Mental Health Hospital in Grogol, West Jakarta.

The visit on Friday was also attended by several journalists.

Citing an example, Reza said chronic depression might increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

In 2000, depression ranked the fourth most common cause of disability after low respiratory infections, perinatal conditions and HIV/AIDS.

“It appears that mental health problems are getting serious as more Indonesian people live modern lives,” said Reza.

During the last few years, depression has had a lot of attention due to an increased number of people with mental health problems.

The World Federation of Mental Health has picked “Depression: A Global Crisis” as the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day, which will fall on Oct. 9.

Data from Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) in 2007 showed that the number of Indonesians aged 15 and older who suffered from emotional mental disorders (both anxiety and depression) reached nearly 19 million, or 11.6 percent of the total population.

Meanwhile, the number of people with severe mental disorders had reached on average 1 million or 0.46 percent of the total population.

According to 2005 World Health Organization (WHO) data, at least 50,000 Indonesians committed suicide every year.

The Health Ministry’s director for mental health management, Diah Setia Utami, said there was no more recent data on how many people had committed suicide in Indonesia.

“We can only estimate that around 150 people commit suicide in Indonesia every day,” she said, referring to the WHO data.

“If it’s true, then we have to provide people with access to both medical treatment and psychosocial support to protect them from suicidal feelings,” Diah said.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Generating Questionnaires

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
We appreciate your feedback.