In a land scarred by decades of conflict, people are used to fighting and to being attacked. During these times, lives go on. Living continues.
Daily routines are carved into the framework of war. Tomorrow’s sun is the horizon for the hope of peace.
Yet, when the battle is an internal struggle and there is no peace during the day nor the night, a person cannot rest.
The suffering of mental illness is Afghanistan is a silent war. The causes of such suffering are shrouded in stigma, creating further wounds for the individual, and often their families too.
Understanding the manifestation of psychiatric disorders such as psychosis, schizophrenia, or seizures related to severe depression carries beliefs about weak faiths or curses. In turn, these beliefs de-humanizes the person. Their identities are replaced by associations with the supernatural.
Resources to offer assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for mental illness are severely under-developed and lacking in Afghanistan. A significant yet overlooked consequence of conflict is the impact on health systems.
Infrastructure to accommodate mental health needs has scarcely begun to develop aside from a public psychiatric hospital in Kabul and one private neuro-psychiatric hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Problems exist with both the financial and human resources.
The Afghanistan National Survey on Mental Health 2003–2005 showed that 16.5 percent of the adult population in the country was suffering from mental health disorders and estimated to be significantly higher since the cycle of violence and trauma has continued for a further decade.
Another significant aspect is the cultural shaping of mental illness.
[For more of this story go to http://www.tolonews.com/opinio...an-when-mind-suffers]
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