Purpose: The term “Mental health literacy” is defined as knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention. The importance of health literacy for physical health is widely studied; however, the area of mental health literacy in Pakistan has been comparatively neglected. The purpose of this paper is to address the knowledge about mental health in people living in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach: Relevant literature relating to mental health literacy was identified through various database searches. The databases searched included: PubMed, Cochrane database of Systemic Reviews, PsycINFO using the terms mental health, mental health literacy, mental health education, Pakistan.Findings: Literature suggests that there is dearth of knowledge about mental illnesses and their treatment among public. This review also highlights the importance of mental health literacy among professionals working in the field of health care. In Pakistan, due to low literacy rate, a high percentage of poverty and dearth of trained professionals warrants an emendation in approaches established for attaining the goal of public health and psychiatric care.Practical implications: Findings have implications for practitioners in the field of mental health care as well as designing targeted interventions for enhancing mental health literacy and help-seeking behavior in the future.Originality/value: A limited understanding and lack of improvement in mental health literacy may interfere with society’s acceptance of evidence-based mental health care which may hamper the delivery of adequate mental health services to the needy.

The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network recently warned that the Zika virus-containing mosquitoes are being found in Pakistan and the health sector is on high alert. It is thus significant to understand public beliefs and perceptions of the Zika virus and vaccination in the current scenario of Pakistan. Twenty semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted and analyzed through an inductive approach to analysis. The findings were presented in three main categories which were coded: Reality vs. Conspiracy, Vaccination Concerns, and Public Worries. The majority believed that the Zika virus is a real problem and that authorities might be trying to hide the Zika cases in Pakistan. Moreover, they believed that health organizations are being incompetent by failing to take timely remedial measures to manage the Zika. However, 20% have an opposing view and believed that the Zika virus is a conspiracy against Pakistan from the West. Overall, most participants were concerned about the lack of treatment and preventive methods and emphasized the need to create awareness among the public. It is observed that the participants’ perceptions ranged from perceiving the Zika virus as real to as a conspiracy.

One of the most consistently observed phenomena in autobiographical memory research is the reminiscence bump: a tendency for middle-aged and elderly people to access more personal memories from approximately 10–30 years of age. This systematic review (PROSPERO 2017:CRD42017076695) aimed to synthesize peer-reviewed literature pertaining to the reminiscence bump. The researchers conducted searches in nine databases for studies published between the date of inception of each database and the year 2017. Keywords used included: reminiscence, bump, peak, surge, blip, reminiscence effect, and reminiscence component. Sixty-eight quantitative studies, out of 523, met the inclusion criteria. The researchers implemented a thematic analytic technique for data extraction. Four main themes were generated: methods of memory activation/instruction for life scripts, types of memory/life scripts recalled, location of the reminiscence bump, and theoretical accounts for the bump. The two prevailing methods of memory activation implemented were the cuing method and important memories method. Three types of memories/life scripts were recalled: personal/autobiographical memory, memories for public events, and life script events. The findings illustrate differing temporal periods for the bump: approximately 10–30 years for memories for important events, approximately 5–30 years for memories that were induced by word cues, and 6–39 years for studies using life scripts. In explaining the bump, the narrative/identity account and cultural life script account received the most support.

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.