Patients have just one dedicated mental health facility in the nation.
Photo: Mahfouz Zubaide
Afghanistan is a traumatised nation. In 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have died and most of its people have witnessed horrendous violence at some point in their lives.
Many of the mental disorders are connected to these experiences, say health officials.
Local journalist Hanif Sherzad says that Afghans continue to be traumatised by their past and the continuing violence.
"Many people don't feel safe, they simply don't feel secure," he says.
"Even those people that have good physical health and are living in secure places are constantly hearing bad news. It affects them and the vicious cycle continues."
The Afghan health ministry readily admits that there simply are not enough facilities or doctors to even begin dealing with the most serious cases.
Click to read more
© BBC MMIX
January 21, 2009
AFGHANISTAN: Coping with a traumatised nation
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KABUL, Afghanistan / BBC News / January 21, 2009
According to studies cited by the Afghan health ministry an astonishing 66% of Afghans suffer mental health problems, reports Martin Patience
At a small, white-washed building on the outskirts of Kabul, a handful of doctors try to cope with one of Afghanistan's biggest problems.
Rugs hang from doorframes to keep out the bitter winter cold, and patients, along with their visiting families, crowd into the bare hospital wards.
According to studies cited by the Afghan health ministry an astonishing 66% of Afghans suffer mental health problems.
And yet this hospital is the only facility in the country dedicated to mental disorders - and there are just 40 beds.
The resident psychiatrist, Musadiq Nadimee, has a weary look as he paces up and down the building's corridors.
"This hospital is just for the complicated cases that are referred to us from across the country," he says with a resigned shrug.
One father has admitted his teenage daughter, Hamida, who suffers from schizophrenia. "She's got a lot better," he says, a smile breaking across his face.
'Vicious cycle'
But most experts agree that the mental health problems here go far deeper than the illnesses that are commonly found in almost all countries.
Patients have just one dedicated mental health facility in the nation.
Photo: Mahfouz Zubaide
Afghanistan is a traumatised nation. In 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have died and most of its people have witnessed horrendous violence at some point in their lives.
Many of the mental disorders are connected to these experiences, say health officials.
Local journalist Hanif Sherzad says that Afghans continue to be traumatised by their past and the continuing violence.
"Many people don't feel safe, they simply don't feel secure," he says.
"Even those people that have good physical health and are living in secure places are constantly hearing bad news. It affects them and the vicious cycle continues."
The Afghan health ministry readily admits that there simply are not enough facilities or doctors to even begin dealing with the most serious cases.
Click to read more
© BBC MMIX
Patients have just one dedicated mental health facility in the nation.
Photo: Mahfouz Zubaide
Afghanistan is a traumatised nation. In 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have died and most of its people have witnessed horrendous violence at some point in their lives.
Many of the mental disorders are connected to these experiences, say health officials.
Local journalist Hanif Sherzad says that Afghans continue to be traumatised by their past and the continuing violence.
"Many people don't feel safe, they simply don't feel secure," he says.
"Even those people that have good physical health and are living in secure places are constantly hearing bad news. It affects them and the vicious cycle continues."
The Afghan health ministry readily admits that there simply are not enough facilities or doctors to even begin dealing with the most serious cases.
Click to read more
© BBC MMIX
