Syed Shemul Parvez :
Mental illness is increasing at an alarming rate in Bangladesh due to various reasons. Most of the victims are women. Many of these victims who suffer from depression chose the path of suicide at some point. This trend has increased during the Corona period.
Violence against women and girls is one kind of social disorder in the both urban and rural areas. Statistics show that rural women are more abused than urban women. They are mostly middle-aged women. Husband tortured their wives in most cases mentally. More than 28 percent of women had been mentally abused at least once in their lives.
As a result, women are suffering from mental illness due to the trauma of torture.
Such information has been released in the latest ‘Gender Statistics of Bangladesh 2018’ by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The BBS published such a report interviewing 19,987 women. Psychiatrists say unemployment, neglect in the family and workplace, cheating on love, family unrest, family breakdown, broken relationships, drug aggression, over-reliance on technology in life, and misuse of social media are some of the causes of mental illness.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), 28.7 percent of women have been mentally abused at least once in their lives. Most victim women are being subjected to mental torture in villages about 29.7 percent. In the city this rate is about 25.4%.
On the other hand, outside the city corporation or in other cities, 27.7 percent women are victims of mental torture.
According to the survey, women between the ages of 45 and 49 are more likely to be victims of psychological abuse, at a rate of 30.5 percent. In addition, women between the ages of 15 and 19 have suffered less mental abuse, at a rate of 22.4 percent. More women have been victims of psychological abuse from their husbands.
Psychiatrist and Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health Naeem Akhtar Abbasi told the media that the rate of mental torture is constantly increasing. The environment of education and society is responsible for this. The literacy rate is higher in the city. The patriarchal attitude is also low in the capital. The women of the city are very vocal in asserting their rights. On the other hand, the village still has a patriarchal social system. The rate of education is also low there. Above all women are not enough aware of the village. Due to these reasons, there is more violence against women in villages than in cities.
Psychiatrist added that men in the village want to show more authority over women. The mother-in-law also puts mental pressure on the woman. But women of the village protested less.
BBS-Director (Demography and Health Wing) Masud Alam told the media in this regard that we have collected public data and published Gender Statistics of Bangladesh. All data from various surveys have also been collected and compiled with. We are preparing to collect new information on violence against women. This work will start nationwide in January 2023. Information will be collected from house to house. Then the details regarding the victim women will be exposed thoroughly, he added.
It is mentionable that a total of 3703 women and girls were tortured last year (2021) in the country, said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad citing a list prepared based on news published between January-December, 2021.
