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Stigma remains barrier to treatment for mental health issues
Rityasiwi Gita, 23, was well aware that she was dealing with anxiety and depression two years ago
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span>Rityasiwi Gita, 23, was well aware that she was dealing with anxiety and depression two years ago. With strong will to get better, she pushed herself to seek professional help, despite people calling her “dramatic” for doing so.
Gita had therapy sessions with psychologists at a clinic in Dharmawangsa, South Jakarta, which she said were immensely helpful.
“I felt that I could not help myself any longer. When I found the right psychologist, I was relieved and it was not hard at all to go to a therapy appointment every week,” said Gita.
Although she eventually took a stand for herself, she acknowledged that many people suffering from the same condition were reluctant to seek help, as they feared being labeled crazy, unstable or unproductive.
“The stigma remains. It is still taboo to discuss mental health issues in public,” she said.
“I’ve been going to counseling since May but I’m not embarrassed since it’s for my own good,” said Gita.
She also emphasized that finding a support system was important as she sought professional help.
Gita said she kept track of communities concerned with mental health, such as the online-based Self Love Warriors and Into the Light, which occasionally hold discussions.
In the capital, there are various communities and consulting services, some of which are focused on specific mental health issues, such as anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Igi Oktamiasih, founder of Bipolar Care Indonesia, based in Kemang, South Jakarta, said the stigma remained the biggest challenge for bipolar sufferers, causing them to pass on seeking professional help and instead look for support through a community group.
“That is why the main focus of this group is to encourage them not to hesitate to reach out for help and to get the right diagnosis that is needed to determine the right treatment, so that they can remain productive,” said Igi.
For Igi, forming the community was a personal project as she also suffered from bipolar disorder.
“We started with a WhatsApp group as a place for us to share corrective and preventive actions. Then, we additionally provided group therapy facilities such as art, music and writing therapy to help those with bipolar disorder release emotions and build concentration,” she added.
The number of Bipolar Care community members has reached 450, scattered in various cities ,including Makassar in South Sulawesi, Bandung in West Java, Semarang and Surakarta in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java and Yogyakarta.
Meanwhile, a personal story motivated Bagus Utomo to establish the Indonesian Schizophrenia Care Community (KPSI) in 2001, which is dedicated to helping people with schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder that can result in hallucinations, delusions and extremely disordered thinking and behavior.
“My older brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1995 at the age of 29. Six years later, I created a page on Yahoo to campaign for the importance of addressing this mental health issue and in 2009, I then changed the platform to Facebook,” Bagus said.
Now, KPSI has a secretariat in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, a place for the community to carry out family education activities every Saturday and other routine creative activities.
Bagus said people needed to be encouraged not only to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health issues but also to seek information about the proper ways to handle them.
“Tens of thousands of sufferers of mental health disorders are still being tied up in houses across the country because their families failed to treat them through traditional healers. They do not understand that such problems can be helped with medical treatment,” he said.
Agung Frijanto, secretary of the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDSKJI), said preventative measures was also important as depressive conditions could lead to suicide.
Agung said depressive symptoms could be categorized in physical, emotional and cognitive aspects.
In the physical aspect, he said, depression could be indicated by sleeping disorders, bad appetite, fatigue and decreased psychomotor abilities.
In the emotional aspect, he added, the symptoms could be demonstrated through moods characterized by sadness, loss of interest, lack of enthusiasm, apathy and isolation.
“Meanwhile, in the cognitive aspect, depressive symptoms could be characterized by low self-esteem, decreased concentration and memory, hesitation, constant feelings of guilt and at worst, immersion of ideas for suicide,” Agung said in a recent discussion held to commemorate World Mental Health Day, which is observed every Oct. 10.
Although the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) covers the medical costs of mental health problems in hospitals and health centers, Agung regretted that it did not cover self-harm mental disorder or suicide attempts.
The Health Ministry’s disease control and prevention director general, Anung Sugihantono, said in the past 10 years, suicidal behavior due to depression had reached critical numbers.
Globally, Anung said, the World Health Organization reported that more than 800,000 people died every year, about one person every 40 seconds.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia alone annually, suicide numbers reached 5,000, with the largest group aged 15 to 29 years old.
“Noninfectious diseases have become a priority in the ministry. I urge people to take preventive measures if family members or people close to them show depressive symptoms,” Anung said.
