S M Yasir Arafat

• MBBS, MBA, MPH, MD (Psychiatry)
• Senior Research Fellow at Biomedical Research Foundation

This brief provides a thorough overview of the history and underlying motivations for consumer panic buying, evaluating psychological perspectives on this behavior on both an individual and societal level. The first volume of its kind to focus specifically on the topic of panic buying, the book situates its analysis within the context of the modern...

This book is about suicidal behavior in Bangladesh. The book aims to be a comprehensive book on suicidal behavior in Bangladesh, based on existing evidence and expertise covering epidemiology, sources of quality data, local culture, forensic and legal aspects, health and mental health care, media and suicide, crisis management system, suicide preve...

Is the first of its kind to address multiple domains of mental health in Bangladesh Identifies research gaps and gives recommendations for improving mental health services in Bangladesh Focuses on academic aspects of community mental health service, based on existing evidence and expertise

Focuses on the practical challenges for access to mental health services Highlights the issues related to accessing mental health services in a densely populated low- and middle-income setting Compares and contrasts the delivery status of mental health services in South Asian countries

Background and Aims Eating disorders are complex psychiatric illnesses mostly prominent in Western countries. Little has been researched about these disorders in countries like Bangladesh. The purpose of this narrative review was to summarize the studies on eating disorders in Bangladesh, focusing on rates and associated factors. Methods A search...

Background and Aims Mental illness is an important risk factor for suicidal ideation. However, little has been known about the burden and associated factors of suicidal ideation among persons with psychiatric disorders in Iraq. We aim to investigate the rate and the associated demographic and clinical factors of suicidal ideation among persons with...

We aimed to perform a bibliometric review on suicide in South Asia. We conducted a search in Scopus. Articles on suicide published in English language with affiliations of eight South Asian countries between 1991 and the search date were included. The search revealed that the number of articles on suicide has been increased both yearly and decade w...

Background: The quality of media reporting of celebrity suicide affects suicidal behaviour among community populations. However, it has not been assessed in Bangladesh. Objectives: We aimed to assess the quality of news reporting of celebrity suicide in Bangladesh against the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Methods: Online news portals...

Background: It has been noted that females lag behind their male counterparts in scientific contributions in various aspects, such as research outputs, editorial positions, and grant achievement. However, the proportion and trend of female authors in mental health journals have not yet been studied. Objectives: We aimed to see the proportions and t...

Purpose Suicide in prisons accounts for about half of all prison deaths globally. A bibliometric analysis would indicate research output and potential contributors in the sector, which has not been conducted previously. The purpose of this paper was to conduct a bibliometric analysis to understand the patterns, trends and gaps in research on this i...

Background Suicide happens due to a complex interaction among multiple factors. Hence, prevention strategies should consider a wider range of personal and ecological aspects. It is an underprioritized public health problem in Bangladesh where risk factors for suicide have been poorly studied, and there is no national suicide prevention strategy. Th...

Background: Suicide is a significant but understudied public health concern in developing nations like Pakistan, where risks factors have not been investigated by mixed methods studies. Hence, we aimed to explore the risk factors for suicide based on a mixed methodology. Methods: This study followed a mixed methods convergent component design. A re...

In the current time the world is too connected with the virtue of internet. Health systems around the world are become more digitalized and dependent on internet connectivity for their operations, making them and their beneficiaries more susceptible to the effects of outages. Internet ensures the basic human rights like freedom of expression and in...

This book is about public mental health needs and aspects of substance use disorders in South Asian countries. South Asia consists of eight countries with low- and middle-income backgrounds. The people of this region, with a combined population of around 2 billion, share common cultures, beliefs, and behavioral patterns regarding physical and menta...

Background: International sports events like the Football World Cup affect the collective emotions of the global community. Usually, major sports events like the Football World Cup show beneficial effects on the community. However, many unwanted consequences such as accidents, premature deaths and violent supporter rivalries have been noticed durin...

Background Mental illness is an important risk factor for self-harm behavior. However, the association between self-harm behavior and psychiatric disorders has been poorly studied in Bangladesh. Aims To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and life-events among patients with a self harm behavior. Methods This cross-sectional study wa...

Background: Burnout is an important concern among healthcare workers, specifically those in gynecology and emergency departments. However, very little is known about burnout syndrome and suicidal ideation among healthcare workers in Pakistan. This aim of this study was to investigate burnout and suicidal ideation among medical professionals working...

Background Depression, anxiety, and stress are the commonly encountered mental health conditions among medical students. Overseas environment may add additional burden to the existing environment. However, comparison of the rate and associated factors of depression, anxiety, stress among domestic and overseas students has not been attempted in Bang...

Background and Aims Bangladesh has made significant progress in declining maternal mortality in recent decades. However, the available evidence on the various maternal mental disorders in the country has not been comprehensively and critically reviewed to date. This narrative review aimed to assess the mental disorders and associated factors during...

Background South‐East Asia is a densely populated region with a considerable, however, under‐prioritized mental health burden. Little is known about the mental health burden and services status in the prisons of the region. Objectives We aimed to investigate the individual country‐wise prison mental health status in South‐East Asian region. Metho...

Background Recent studies are coming out assessing the relationship between suicide rates and various ecological variables. However, information on the association between suicide rate and ecological variables in India has been limited. We aimed to measure the association of suicide rate with religion, literacy, gross domestic product, human develo...

Background: Scoping reviews systematically map the breadth of evidence on a particular topic, providing a comprehensive overview of the available research. This paper aims to outline the key steps involved in conducting a scoping review and to provide practical guidance for public health and allied health students and researchers. Methods: Formulat...

A bibliometric analysis would reveal the overall research trend, contributing journals, and supporting fund agencies on behavioral addiction. However, no previous attempt was noted on the behavioral addiction field. We aimed to perform a bibliometric analysis on behavioral addiction. We searched in the PubMed database on behavioral addiction. All t...

Background: The phenomenon of protest suicide has been poorly studied in South Asia. We aimed to report and analyse events of protest suicidality in South Asian countries. Methods: We searched for media reports and made personal communications to identify the protest suicide and noted cases in South Asia. Results: Our study identified 6 notable pro...

Background: This study aims to investigate the pattern of suicidal behaviours among the international tourists in Indonesia and Thailand by analysing the online contents of local newspapers. Methods: A content analysis of suicide news reports of the two countries was performed for the year 2019. Five newspapers of Indonesia and one English language...

Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country located in South Asia with an impressive economic growth. There is a burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases in the country. Mental health and suicide prevention are largely neglected in the country. This chapter discusses the epidemiology (rate, sociodemographic distributions, and risk fact...

Historically, Muslim countries have lower rates of suicide compared to the global average as well as those of Western countries. Many theories are put forward for this. However, suicide is a complex phenomenon affected by multiple factors and there are wide variations in the practice of Islam, cultural norms, social and political structures, geogra...

Religiousness has been associated with decreased risk of suicidal behavior though the mechanisms underlying these associations are not well characterized. Additionally, there is an extreme dearth of studies for suicide prevention in Muslim majority countries. In the current chapter, we discuss the context of Islam in suicide prevention, the current...

South Asia is a densely populated area consisting of eight countries with low- and middle-income backgrounds. The region shares some common cultural beliefs, distribution of psychiatric disorders, care-seeking patterns, and enduring treatment gaps. At the same time, there are some variations among the countries based on religion, local culture, lan...

Bangladesh is an emerging economy in South Asia with the potential double burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Mental illness is one of the top fifth burdensome non-communicable diseases in the country. Historically, there is more than 90% of services gaps for mental health disorders. This chapter aims to discuss the current s...

Background: Burnout syndrome (BS) is known to affect health professionals worldwide where negative attitudes towards their jobs prevail leading to psychological distress, work dysfunction, and low accomplishments. However, little has been investigated about BS among doctors working and living in Iraq. Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence...

Chronic diseases had numerous psychiatric consequences where depression was the prime concern. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery strongly affected mental health of patients. Current study was aimed at assessing proportion and quantifying severity of depressive disorders among patients before and after CABG. This longitudinal study was con...

Presented as the first dedicated book to Dhat syndrome Provides insight to the readers from the evolution to the current status of Dhat syndrome Indicates the potential research gaps and scope for further research on Dhat syndrome

Dhat syndrome is a culture-bound syndrome commonly seen in young, unmarried, less educated males from rural backgrounds in South East Asia. Since its introduction in the 1960s, its nosological status has still been unsettled. It was first appeared in the International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD-10) and in the Diagnostic and Statisti...

Dhat syndrome is a culture-bound syndrome commonly prevailing in South Asian countries. Origin of dhat is deeply rooted in the overvalued notion that semen is a vital fluid of the human body and loss of it can be detrimental to health. Even literacy and sexual awareness rates have still not been able to persuade people regarding the non-organic nat...

The current status of psychiatry in Bangladesh is the summation of all efforts since its commencement in 1957 at Pabna Mental Hospital during the Pakistan period. It is the collective effort of all individuals. However, for historical purposes, we mention the prominent persons of psychiatry in Bangladesh considering their extraordinary contribution...

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with more than 90% of the mental health treatment gap. After abolishing the Dhaka asylum, the Pabna Mental Hospital and the National Institute of Mental Health are the prominent services set up in the country. There are inadequate and inequitable distributions of human resources...

Biological or pharmacological management plays a vital role in mental health services in Bangladesh. To some extent, psychotropics are the core of management in the country. Psychotropics are becoming available in the country keeping with the pace of the global market. Although other methods of neuromodulation like deep brain stimulation are yet to...

Forensic psychiatry, the intersection of psychiatry and the legal system, has gained recognition and importance worldwide. However, it has been a neglected domain in Bangladesh. There is no specialized training in forensic psychiatry in the country even though a high prevalence of mental disorders has been found among the prisoners. There are only...

Community psychiatry is the practice of providing mental health services in the community rather than in long-term institutions. It aims to improve the quality of life and human rights of people with mental disorders or disabilities. Bangladesh faces many challenges in implementing effective and accessible community psychiatric services. These incl...

Suicide and suicide prevention remains under-prioritized in Bangladesh. Available evidence suggests that the rate of suicide varies widely in estimates from different sources. Reliable good quality data is a challenge in Bangladesh. Females die more than males in the country. Hanging and poisoning are the leading methods of suicide attempts. Young...

Being a densely populated country, Bangladesh contains about 15.7 million populations aged above 60 years making up about 9.3% of the population with an increased proportion over the decades. Mental disorders are prevalent among elderly adults in Bangladesh, particularly among those in rural and marginalized communities. Geriatric psychiatric disor...

Bangladesh is a lower-middle-income country of the Indian Subcontinent with a huge population density. Historically, education and research in mental health have been neglected in this region as well as in the country. Psychiatry is grossly under-prioritized in the undergraduate curriculum in the country. Before, independence mental health professi...

Common mental disorders include depression and anxiety disorders. These conditions are among the leading causes of disability and morbidity worldwide. According to the recent National Mental Health Survey, over 10% of the population of Bangladesh suffers from one of these disorders. In the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the q...

This chapter explores the potential presence and role of technology-based interventions in addressing mental health challenges in Bangladesh. The technology landscape in Bangladesh is examined, focusing on the growth of information and communication technology, mobile internet usage, and smartphone adoption. E-mental health initiatives, including t...

Purpose of Review The number of evidence supporting the use of various forms of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques for suicidal behavior is growing. This review updates the role of NIBS techniques in managing suicidal behavior based on recent evidence. Recent Findings Evidence showed that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation...

Background and Aims The COVID‐19 pandemic and its accompanying countermeasures significantly disrupt the health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) of adolescents. We aimed to estimate the status and associated factors related to HRQoL of adolescents during the COVID‐19 pandemic from the community population of Bangladesh. Methods This cross‐sectional...

Zusammenfassung Als öffentliches Gesundheitsproblem bekommt Suizid in Bangladesch weniger Aufmerksamkeit, als es verdient. Die genaue Suizid-rate ist immer noch umstritten. Sie basiert auf verschiedenen Quellen, da das Land kein nationales Suizidüberwachungssystem hat. Zudem variiert die Rate in verschiedenen Berichten und empirischen Studien. Wir...

Zusammenfassung Selbstmord ist ein komplexes Phänomen; daher ist eine ganzheitliche Fürsorge notwendig, um ihn zu verhindern. Neben anderen Bereichen spielt die forensische Medizin eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Feststellung der Todesart, insbesondere in einem Land wie Bangladesch, wo ein Selbstmordversuch eine Straftat ist. Die Polizei ist eine...

Zusammenfassung Die Vorstellung, dass mindestens 90 % der Suizide auf eine psychische Störung zurückzuführen sind, kann durch die verfügbaren Beweise in Bangladesch nicht gestützt werden. Obwohl die Rate niedriger ist, ist das Gesundheitssystem nicht ausreichend bzw. gar nicht darauf vor-bereitet, mit Suizid und selbstschädigendem Verhalten im Land...

Dieses Buch befasst sich umfassend mit suizidalem Verhalten in Bangladesch. Es basiert auf vorhandenen Erkenntnissen und Fachwissen und behandelt im Speziellen die Bereiche Epidemiologie, Quellen für Qualitätsdaten, lokale Kultur, forensische und rechtliche Aspekte, Gesundheit und psychische Versorgung, Medien und Suizid, Krisenmanagementsystem, Su...

We aimed to see the trend and geographic distribution of suicide research. We searched in Scopus to identify the articles published on suicide since 1991 and compared the country-wise output in regards to income and geographical location of the country. The study revealed more than twofold increase of articles from an earlier decade and a slight in...

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global public health concern. Evidence shows that depression and anxiety are common among patients with COVID-19 after recovery. About one-third of the total COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh have been reported in Dhaka city. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of depression and anxie...

Introduction Identifying risk factors would help consider suicide prevention in any specific population. We aimed to assess suicidal behaviour among university students in the UK. Methods An extensive keyword search was conducted through PubMed, Cochrane, CINHAL Plus, PubMed Central, Web of Science, Trip database, and Science Direct, following the...

Background Assessment of the depiction of suicidal behavior in motion pictures would reveal the social representation of suicide that would foster suicide prevention in a country. Objectives We aimed to assess how suicidality has been depicted in Nepali movies by scrutinizing their contents against the sociodemographic checklist and WHO media guid...

Background and Aims The connection between marital status and suicidal behavior has been poorly assessed in South Asia. We aimed to see the proportion of marital status in individuals with suicidal behavior in South Asian countries. Methods We followed PRISMA guidelines and registered the protocol in advance (PROSPERO 2023 CRD42023399906). A syste...

The practice of electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) varies both between and within countries. We aimed to review historical and current trends in ECT practices, perceptions, and legislations in South Asia, a region with a high burden of mental illness and suicide. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed) and Google Scholar databases for relevant literature on ECT...

Introduction The dynamics of self-harm vary substantially around the world, yet it is severely under-researched outside of a small number of high-income ‘Western’ countries. South Asia is disproportionately impacted by suicide, yet we know less about non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in the region. Objective To review and summarise evidence on the p...

Background: As suicide is a criminal offence in Bangladesh, determination of the perception of religious leaders on the legal status would pave the way to decriminalise suicide in the country. However, no previous attempt was noted to assess the perception of religious leaders on the criminal legal status of suicide in Bangladesh. Objectives: We ai...

Suicide is an extremely complex outcome of multiple attributing factors. 1, 2 Still, there is no one-to-one proven risk factor for suicide attempts. Gene-environment interactions, stress-diathesis reaction, proximal and distal factor interactions, personality, social events, religious affiliation, mental health, and cultural practices have complica...

literacy and stigma of suicide among religious leaders affect help-seeking behaviours for suicidal behaviour in the community. We did not find any study assessing the literacy and stigma level among religious leaders in Bangladesh to date. We aimed to assess the status of suicide literacy and stigma and factors related to them among religious leade...

The Indian cinema industry greatly impacts the world, especially in South Asian nations, including Bangladesh and Indonesia. This study examines the quality of suicide reporting by media following non-native celebrity suicides in nations with a comparable culture. This study was conducted for one month immediately following the suicide of an Indian...

Background: Indian subcontinent has high mental heath burden and low resoueces to cope the mental health challenges. Assessment of impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the mental mental healthwould help to prioratize the resource allocations. We aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of people in the Indian subcontinent. Methods: We...

Background Infertility negatively affects nearly all aspects of women’s life and is a source of demotion in the rank/status of women that they have achieved after marriage. This social rank/status demotion due to infertility may result in depression and several other psychopathologies. No extant instrument is available to measure the phenomenon of...

It is the Bangla translation of our English book "Suicide in Bangladesh" published by Springer in 2023. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-0289-7

Background Despite the recent progress of women in academia, there is an underrepresentation of female editors in academic journals. Additionally, although suicide affects more low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) than high-income countries, little is known about the geographical distribution of editors in suicidology journals. Aims We aimed to...

Online portals of selected English and local language newspapers and television channels were searched to identify suicide news reports published one year after the celebrity suicide (ACS). These reports (n = 1952) were compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, immediately following the celebrity suicide (ICS) (n = 2486), and a t...

The connection between marital status and suicidal behavior has been poorly assessed in South Asia. We aimed to see the proportion of marital status in individuals in suicidal behavior in South Asian countries. We followed PRISMA guidelines and registered the protocol in advance (PROSPERO 2023 CRD42023399906). A systematic search was conducted in M...

Objective: To assess online suicide news articles in Thai language using the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting guidelines and The Mental Health Act (Second issue) B.E. 2562. Methods: Eligible suicide articles published online in Thai newspaper websites during July-December 2020 were analyzed for potentially harmful and potentially helpful c...

Introduction and aims: Symptomatology of epilepsy and its' associated alteration in brain processes, stigma of experiencing seizures, and adverse sequelae of anti-epileptics have been demonstrated to impact behaviour and exacerbate psychopathology. This study examines the role of dysfunctional schema modes in People with Epilepsy (PWE) and their a...

People in Mosul, Iraq faced many acts of violence between 2014 and 2017 when the city was seized by the terrorist group of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We aimed to determine the prevalence of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among university students in Mosul. This cross-sectional study was conducted between the period of...

We report a case of filicide which is an under-researched entity in Bangladesh. A 28-year-old lady visited with complaints of irregular eating followed by self-induced vomiting, poor anger control, irregular sleep, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts for the last year. On the third visit, she admitted that she killed her 32-day-old baby by keeping...

Background: Assessing suicidal behaviours among students would help to understand the burden and enhance suicide prevention. Aims: We aimed to determine the prevalence of suicidal behaviour among students living in Muslim-majority countries. Method: We followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A sy...

As a public health problem, suicide gets less attention than it deserves in Bangladesh. The exact rate of suicide is still arguable based on different sources as the country does not have any national suicide surveillance system and it varies in different reports and empirical studies. We know very little about the epidemiology of suicidal ideation...

Suicide is a complex phenomenon; therefore, holistic care is needed to prevent it. Along with other areas, forensic medicine serves a vital role in ascertaining the manner of death, particularly in a country like Bangladesh where suicide attempt is a criminal offense. The police are a potential source of suicide data as the country lacks national s...