T

o help reduce the number of mental health cases in the city, doctors at community health clinics (Puskesmas) need to learn psychological symptoms, says psychiatrist Hervita Diatri from the University of Indonesia school of medicine.

'Seventy percent of suicides in the city happen because of late help from the community to the victims,' she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

According to The Ministry of Health in 2007, 14.1 percent of Jakartans over 15 years old suffered from mental health problems ranging depression and anxiety to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The figure was higher than the average 11.6 percent for the whole country.

'Based on recent observations in eight public health centers in Central Jakarta, depression and anxiety top the list of cases,' she said.

The causes of the problems in Central Jakarta ranged from stress at work to the effects of narcotics and trauma from domestic violence, she said.

More than 50 percent of the patients in the clinics were identified as having depression, Hervita said.

'Unfortunately, not many people are willing to tell other people that they are experiencing emotional disturbances or mental problems,' she said, adding that most of them were still afraid of getting being stigmatized as weird or insane.

Realizing the problems, the schools's department of psychiatry is planning to educate general physicians at community health clinics to identify mental health problems in their patients and to understand the patients' language in expressing their problems.

Nova Riyanti Yusuf, chairwoman of the House of Representatives working committee on the draft bill on mental health and advisor to Yayasan Metaforma Indonesia, said on Monday, that her foundation had launched two mobile units in Bulungan, South Jakarta to serve residents having mental health problems.

The mobile units will tour two mayoralties, South and Central Jakarta, offering free counseling services for three months to people with mental health worries she said.

'We will record the phenomena of psychological problems to be used by psychiatrists for further evaluation,' she said. (tam)