Rotarians at the district assembly at a city hotel on Sunday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, April 10: Social well-being is not only about physical well-being but also mental health. Correct understanding of it is the need of the hour for minimising conflict, communication gap, prejudice and increased tension among human beings.

Shamshad Hussain, the chairman of Bihar State University Service Commission, made the observations today while addressing Rotarians on the concluding day of the two-day district assembly of Rotary International District 3250 comprising 81 Rotary clubs of Bihar and Jharkhand as the chief guest at a city hotel.

He added: “Understanding human behaviour is a highly complex and difficult task. It needs correct and scientific vision and rational thinking. In the same way, national and international tension, racial conflicts, war, national disintegration, social crimes, alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual assaults, prostitution and many other problems demand an in-depth analysis of human behaviour.”

Hussain suggested Rotarians, apart from arranging camps for physical ailments, polio-based programmes or health check-up camps, should also come forward for checking the mental health of people through counselling centres. He added that most people ignore mental health because of the social stigma attached to it.

He said: “We become victims of distorted interpretation of human beings. People ignore their mental health most of the times. If you have a fracture or high blood pressure, diabetes or something else, you will immediately consult doctors. But when some of us suffer from loss of sleep, anxiety, frustration, we never go to the doctor because we are apprehensive of what people around us will think. This is where I want Rotary to step in.”

Hussain, also the head of the Patna University psychology department, said an individual’s behaviour is the product of biological sociological, cultural, economical and political environment and hence, these must be considered before interpreting the behaviour of any person.