Islamabad: Post-traumatic stress disorder affects one in every five Pakistani adults, while depression affects more than one in 10, a nationwide survey has found, as 32.4 million people need mental-health care but only 500 to 700 trained psychiatrists are available, mostly in major cities.
The shortage of specialists, coupled with stigma, poverty and the absence of mental-health services at most primary healthcare facilities, was highlighted on the opening day of the Pakistan Global Mental Health Summit 2026, where Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal launched the National Mental Health Policy 2026-2035.
“Mental health is an emergency in Pakistan. It is a national security issue and a national economic issue,” the minister said, adding that the matter could not be left to psychiatrists and hospitals alone.
He said every ministry, institution and individual would have to play a role in creating a safer and healthier environment for people facing depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction and other mental-health conditions.
The two-day summit was organised by the Ministry of National Health Services in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the Global Institute of Human Development (GIHD) at Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University. It brought together policymakers, psychiatrists, provincial health officials, academics and development partners.
Minister of State for Health Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath said the National Mental Health Policy would seek to bring care closer to people through schools, primary healthcare centres and communities.
He said early identification and treatment were essential, especially for children and young people, while people seeking help should be treated with dignity and respect.
The policy was launched days after Pakistan’s first nationally representative psychiatric survey found that 32.3 percent of adults, or almost one in every three Pakistanis, were living with a diagnosable mental or behavioural disorder.
The study, published in BMJ Public Health, was conducted between 2019 and 2022 in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Researchers interviewed 17,773 adults aged 18 years and above at their homes using a structured psychiatric assessment.
It found that neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders affected 24.5 percent of adults, while post-traumatic stress disorder was reported by 19.9 percent. Depressive disorders were found in 10.6 percent of respondents.
The survey also found that 6.2 percent of participants had experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviour during the preceding month, while 1.1 percent reported having attempted suicide during their lifetime.
Prof Dr Mohammad Iqbal Afridi, professor emeritus of psychiatry and a co-author of the study, said Pakistan had for years relied on small and fragmented studies, while the new survey had provided the first clear national picture of the problem.
He said the findings should be used to expand services beyond big cities and psychiatric hospitals, where most specialists and treatment facilities are concentrated.
The study found a higher burden of mental-health problems among people aged over 40 years, those who were separated, divorced or widowed, and people who were unemployed, homemakers, students or retired. It also found that mental illnesses were affecting people’s work, family life and social functioning.
The study put Pakistan’s psychiatrist-to-population ratio at around 0.19 per 100,000 people. The shortage is particularly acute outside Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and a few other urban centres, where specialised services are available.
WHO Deputy Representative Ellen Tom said Pakistan had the evidence and medical knowledge needed to prevent and treat common mental-health conditions, but these needed to be translated into services that people could actually access.
She said investment in the treatment of depression and anxiety was not merely a cost, as every dollar spent on such care could generate four dollars through better health and improved productivity.
Dr Syed Usman Hamdani, founding director of GIHD, said Pakistan had demonstrated through research and community programmes that mental-health services could be provided through primary healthcare facilities, schools and communities.
Pakistan Medical and Dental Council President Prof Dr Rizwan Taj said mental-health teaching at undergraduate level had been increased from 50 to 175 hours and would be raised to 200 hours. He said medical colleges would also be required to screen students and staff annually and establish primary mental-health care centres.
The first day of the summit also discussed child and adolescent mental health, school-based care, the impact of climate disasters and displacement, and the need to include the lived experiences of people with mental-health conditions in policy and service planning.