Women's mental health in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, societal attitudes and norms, as well as cultural practices (Karo Kari, exchange marriages, dowry, etc.), play a vital role in women's mental health. The religious and ethnic conflicts, along with the dehumanizing attitudes towards women, the extended family system, role of in-laws in daily lives of women, represent major issues and stressors. Such practices in Pakistan have created the extreme marginalisation of women in numerous spheres of life, which has had an adverse psychological impact. Violence against women has become one of the acceptable means whereby men exercise their culturally constructed right to control women. Still, compared to other South Asian countries, Pakistani women are relatively better off than their counterparts.