Treating hysterical attacks with the use of an anti-hysteria kit "to drive out evil spirits" is confusing society, according to the Malaysian Psychiatric Association (MPA).

MPA president, Professor Dr Nor Zuraida Zainal said managing hysteria attacks without medical psychiatric treatment and general medicine could endanger patients and the community.

"Wide press coverage in the past few days on the availability of anti-hysteria treatment, which is out of medical and mental health context is very worrying," she said in a statement Saturday.

Dr Nor Zuraida said that for 150 years, doctors and researchers sought to understand the phenomenon of hysteria and had introduced modern and scientifically proven treatments to treat the attacks.

Newspapers yesterday reported the anti-hysteria kit developed by Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) to treat hysteria, frequently afflicted by students in boarding schools or universities were sold at RM8,750 per box.


READ: Local university produces anti-hysteria kit based on hysteria studies


Dr Nor Zuraida said in Malaysia, before any intervention could be applied for medical treatment, it must comply with the Drug Registration Guidance issued by the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau, Ministry of Health.

"The process of recognising a medical intervention must also abide by requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO) that issued the Declaration of Helsinki and Nuremberg Code of Ethics. All these to ensure patient safety which must always be priority," she said.

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