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span class="inline inline-center">Lost boy: Jamil, 15, plays with paper kites at his house on Jl. Tegal Parang Utara in South Jakarta. Jamil has intellectual disabilities and his parents have chained his leg to the wall. 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.

Dien said the city administration would initiate preventive measures including early detection programs at schools and campaigns at community health centers to raise awareness of the problem.

University of Indonesia social psychologist Hamdan Muluk said that the increasing number of mentally ill in Jakarta could be attributed to harsh living conditions. Coupled with a lack of social order, this could easily drive people to the edge.

“If a new report comes out saying that even more Jakartans are suffering from mental illness, I won’t be surprised, as I can see no improvement in social conditions,” Hamdan told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Hamdan also said that more Jakartans were susceptible to psychosocial problems due to the yawning gap between the rich and the poor, which increases pressure on the lower classes, who make up the vast majority of the population.

“The higher the pressure in life, the lower their quality of life and the more depressed they will become,” he said.

Hamdan said that the chaotic city planning also contributed to increasing Jakartans’ stress.

“Depressed people sometimes need an escape by going to public spaces — a decent park, for example — but this city doesn’t accommodate that,” he added.

He said that the city administration must, in the short term, train more medical professionals to handle mentally ill patients.

Health Ministry mental health management director Irmansyah had said previously that the high prevalence of Jakartans suffering from mental and emotional problems resulted in aggressive behavior leading to street brawls, domestic violence, divorce, suicide and drug abuse.

Separately, Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih conceded that the government was struggling to help patients with mental illnesses.

She said that less than 10 percent of the community health centers in the country were capable of treating mentally ill patients .

“We have 9,000 community health centers throughout the country, but only 70 establishments provide services for patients with mental problems,” she said during the commemoration of World Mental Health Day in Bogor, West Java.

There are only two mental hospitals in Jakarta — Duren Sawit Hospital and Soeharto Heerdjan Hospital — along with four mental health institutions and 44 community health centers that can handle patients with mental problems.

Indonesia has one of the lowest psychiatrist-population ratios in the world. Currently, there are only 600 psychiatrists nationwide — approximately one psychiatrist for every 400,000 to 500,000 people.

The ideal ratio is one for every 30,000 people, which means Indonesia would need about another 8,000 psychiatrists.