Background:The area of men's sexual health has been poorly understood, particularly with reference to South Asian cultures. The belief that losing semen is detrimental to health is a concept common to both Oriental and Occidental thinking.Aim:To estimate the number of patients with the dhat syndrome consulting different professionals in Lahore and to examine their demographic characteristics.Method:Seventy health professionals of various types were approached and asked to fill in a daily record form for all patients reporting at their clinics for a period of 1 month.Results:A total of 1777 patients were reported to attend the outpatient clinics of health professionals of various types over a period of 1 month. The majority of patients consulted hakims for professional help. Most of the patients were single, with a mean age of 24 years and had a monthly income of less than Rs 3000.Conclusion:These data have important implications for patients, professionals and researchers. The alarming number of people consulting various professionals to seek help for anxiety due to semen loss highlights the fact that research into and interventions for this neglected area of men's sexual health are urgently required.

Objective:This study aims to examine Gender Difference in the level of Discrimination and Stigma experienced by people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in Pakistan. It was hypothesized that Women diagnosed with Depression are likely to be experiencing more Discrimination and Internalized Stigma in comparison to Men.Methods:This is a Cross Sectional Study. Thirty eight patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder recruited from different Government Sector Hospitals of Lahore; were approached after obtaining informed consent. Discrimination and Stigma were measured through Discrimination and Stigma Scale and Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory respectively.Results:Both Men and Women experience considerably high level of associated Stigma and Discrimination due to their Mental Illness. However, Women in comparison to Men experience significantly greater level of Internalized Stigma especially in domains of Discrimination Experience and Social Withdrawal.Conclusion:The findings of this study highlight the fact that people with Depression can be more benefited with psychological treatment if dealing with Stigma and Discrimination is also addressed in Intervention Plans.

OBJECTIVE: This study described the views over time of young people referred to early intervention services (EIS), particularly as they relate to the importance of relationships. METHODS: A cohort of people aged 14 to 35 enrolled in a large multisite study of EIS for psychosis in the United Kingdom were recruited for a qualitative, longitudinal study in which they were interviewed within six months of admission to EIS and 12 months later. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed using Charmaz's constructivist grounded-theory methodology. RESULTS: A total of 63 individuals were interviewed during the six months after their first service contact, and 36 (57%) were interviewed 12 months later. Service users generally viewed IES key workers as supportive and youth sensitive, but up to one-third felt that the three years of sustained engagement expected was too intensive. Family support was highly valued by service users, and key workers and families worked well together to support the young people as they recovered. A significant minority of service users, however, reported feeling the emergence of a new self-identity, often associated with a sense of loss of the person they had felt themselves to be before becoming ill. CONCLUSIONS: EIS for young people should provide not only the right type of engagement but also the right amount, recognize the very important role of families in giving both practical and emotional support and in liaising with key workers, and take into account the relatively rapid change in perceptions of personal identity that accompany illness

It is well documented that there is a shortage of mental health care providers, mental health literacy, and underutilization of mental health services in Pakistan. This systematic review aimed to assess the available evidence on factors hindering and/or facilitating access to care among people with mental health issues, health care providers, carers, or any other population group (e.g., students, teachers) in Pakistan. Thirteen published studies of barriers and facilitators in Pakistan were identified through nine electronic databases: Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Ovid Emcare, CINAHL plus, Proquest Central, PsycInfo, Scopus, Pubmed, and ScienceDirect. Thematic analysis revealed that factors facilitating access to mental health services were trust in the effectiveness of mental health services and acknowledging the seriousness of the problem. However, factors hindering the access were financial issues/constraints, personal issues/other priorities, stigma, low mental health knowledge, side-effects/dissatisfaction from previous treatments, time and distance constraints, reliance on traditional/religious healers, and lack of social (i.e., family and peers) support/encouragement. Findings suggest the need for reducing barriers to and enhancing facilitators of seeking mental health services. To improve help-seeking, the focus of strategies should be on enhancing mental health literacy, lowering stigma, and increasing trust in mental health services' effectiveness.Implications of rehabilitationWhat is known about this topic? There is a scarcity of empirical evidence on mental health and its correlates in Pakistan-a developing country and mental health services are restricted to psychiatry departments of teaching hospitals or in privately run clinics. There is a scarcity of psychiatrists in rural areas having 60% population and there is a need for recognizing facilitators and reducing barriers to reasonable mental health care is crucial. What the paper adds: Factors facilitating access to mental health services were trust in the effectiveness of mental health services and acknowledging the seriousness of the problem. Factors hindering the access were financial issues/constraints, personal issues/other priorities, stigma, low mental health knowledge, side-effects/dissatisfaction from previous treatments, time and distance constraints, reliance on traditional/religious healers, and lack of social (i.e., family and peers) support/encouragement. This recognition can help to design adequate programs and policies for people with mental health issues. There is a need to raise public awareness of the importance of seeking mental health services as well as for designing, testing, and executing strategies to reduce self and social stigma related to mental health problems.

Objective The current study aimed to explore the mediating role of body image (dissatisfaction) between sexual functioning (SF) and marital intimacy in Pakistani women with breast cancer. Design/Participants Correlation research design was used. One hundred and eighteen women suffering from breast cancer with age (M = 39.58, SD = 11.06) were taken from both Government and Private Hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. The participants were asked to fill out a set of questionnaires including a Demographic Form, Female Sexual Function Index, Body Image Scale, and Marital Intimacy Questionnaire (MIQ). Findings Correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between higher SF and positive determinants of marital intimacy (consensus, openness, affection, and commitment). Body image dissatisfaction had a negative relationship with positive determinants of marital intimacy and positive relationship with intimacy problems (dimension of MIQ). SPSS (Process) revealed that SF came out to be a positive predictor of marital intimacy while body image (dissatisfaction) came out to be a negative predictor of positive dimensions of marital intimacy. There was a mediational role of body image (dissatisfaction) between SF and all dimensions of marital Intimacy. Conclusion It was concluded that women who perceived their bodies positively had better marital intimacy, which lead to a healthy marital life.