2023-07-30 21:28:55
Mental health… An invisible suffering for Yemenis on the sidelines of war
At a time when analysts consider the deterioration of mental health to be one of the invisible results of the war in Yemen, the 30-year-old journalist Fakhr Al-Azab has been living in a state of severe depression for three years, and he is still undergoing treatment, but he does not hide his suffering, and continues to recount the details of his condition on social media, and sees He is fighting a battle that he must know the methods of confronting.
Al-Azab lives in the city of Taiz, the most densely populated city in Yemen, which witnessed bloody events during the years of war, and is still under siege. He told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “Several factors caused me to become depressed, the most important of which was displacement and witnessing the arrival of war incidents in my area, where I lost many friends and relatives, and my work as a journalist contributed to my living through this situation, as it necessitated my preoccupation with following up on war news in Taiz during more than 8 years.
He adds: “The events and accumulations of the war afflicted me with depression, which caused me many problems that made me unable to complete my work, and caused me lethargy, so the flame of passion for practicing the profession that I love was extinguished, while I lived amidst fear and anxiety. From the first days when I felt symptoms of depression, I decided to confront this disease through confession.” First, then go to the psychiatrist and adhere to the treatments he decided, as well as sessions with a specialist for psychological counseling, and I read a lot regarding depression, its causes and methods of treatment, which helped me a lot in how to deal with it.
Al-Azab says that depression turned him into an unemployed journalist, and his financial situation deteriorated, and he became living on debts, and he found it difficult to provide the sums required for treatment, but he continued to secure them by all available means, hoping to recover in order to return to his work.
Lack of awareness and stigma
In general, the majority of Yemenis are not sufficiently aware of diseases and mental disorders, and they fear the societal stigma associated with their conditions, which describes the patient as “crazy.” They also suffer from the lack of support from government health institutions, which may lead their cases to bad stages, while others insist on “suffering.” silently”.
In Sana’a, Muhammad (a pseudonym) lives in the tragedy of a severe psychological disorder that led to the disintegration of his family, following his divorce from his wife, and the closure of the shop he owned due to bankruptcy. He suffers from fear and anxiety, and has great doubts regarding his surroundings, which makes his behavior violent.
One of his relatives told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “At the beginning of his illness, Muhammad went to clerics in many regions, and he was convinced of the benefits of treatment, through the recitation of Quranic verses by the sheikhs, but his condition remained bad and did not change, and his delusions increased.”
He continues, “We tried to convince his family to resort to psychological treatment sessions with a specialized doctor who might help his condition, but they were not convinced of the suggestion. One of them told me: The doctor is not better than the Qur’an. Currently, his condition is getting worse every day, noting that his financial conditions were good before his illness.”
While a large number of Yemenis do not recognize mental illness and its treatment methods, they face the negative effects of the war on their lives with a lack of awareness and a sense of stigma.
Yemen’s children do not feel safe today (Muhammad Huwais / AFP)
Usually, it is not possible to know that a person has a mental illness only when his practices become aggressive with his surroundings. And then the solution for some is to restrict this person and isolate him, or to run away from his family to live on the street.
Activists in the “Doctors Without Borders” organization, which cooperates with a hospital in Hajjah (northwest), talk to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed regarding receiving people suffering from anxiety and insomnia, and others whose mental illnesses are considered serious, such as psychosis, depression, bipolar disorder, and some other disorder. After the trauma, including people who have attempted suicide for various reasons.
Antonella Pozzi, director of mental health activities at the organization, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “It is necessary to help people understand and identify mental disorders, which allows the patients themselves and their families to deal with severe cases, noting that the majority of families deal with severe symptoms of emotion by restraining patients.” “.
No interest since before the war
It is known that mental health did not receive enough attention in Yemen before the war. A report on the National Mental Health Strategy issued in 2010 counted the presence of 46 psychiatrists, that is, one doctor for every 600,000 people, and 130 specialists.
Khaled Abdel-Ghani, who works in the government health sector, believes, in his interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that “the mental health disaster in Yemen will appear more following the war, and its impact will be worse in the long run, because many young men have spent half their lives in war and tragedy, which reveals Clearly the sheer scale of suffering.”
He adds: “Even if the war ends today, the repercussions of mental illness will continue for years. From here, something must be done. The continuation of the spread of these diseases will disintegrate the fabric of society, which is suffering tremendously in the face of the worst disasters and tribulations.”
He points out that “the support provided by international organizations in Yemen through programs is still very limited, while the disaster requires a comprehensive national plan to address the worsening crisis and ensure a future with minimal mental health losses.” It is noteworthy that thousands of Yemenis have faced various traumas and tribulations due to displacement, fear, anxiety, violent air raids and artillery shelling that targeted homes, and others have been subjected to kidnappings, enforced disappearances, and arrests of children who have lost their parents. At the end of 2021, the United Nations estimated that 377,000 Yemenis had been killed in the war.
There are no accurate statistics on the extent of mental illness or on the capabilities available to the health sector supported by the organizations. In 2020, studies revealed that there is one psychiatric bed for every 200,000 Yemenis, and one psychiatrist for every 500,000 people. A study conducted by the non-governmental Foundation for Family Counseling and Development on estimating the prevalence of mental disorders stated that “young men between the ages of 16 and 30 constitute 80 percent of the total cases that suffer from mental and psychological diseases.”
Taiz recorded the highest rate of post-war stress (Ahmed Al-Basha/AFP)
In 2019, Save the Children conducted a study aimed at understanding the impact of the war in Yemen on children’s mental health, and reported that “Yemen has only two psychiatrists to treat children, and there is only one mental health nurse available for every 300,000 people.” The study also showed that 52 percent of Yemeni children never feel safe when they are away from their parents. In Taiz, which recorded the highest percentage of post-traumatic stress, parents reported that their children feel sad and depressed on a permanent basis.
Exacerbation of mental disorders
A report published by the World Health Organization in August 2022 stated that “one in four people in Yemen suffers from mental, psychological and social problems due to armed conflict, forced displacement, unemployment, food shortages, and other harsh conditions.”
On November 13, 2022, the same organization announced the launch of a national strategy for mental health in Yemen, “aiming at reducing the growing burden of exacerbating mental disorders, with the continuation of the war for eight years and the collapsing economy that has paralyzed health facilities, and the exacerbation of mental illnesses affecting people.” “All segments of society. The conflict in Yemen has closed most of the state’s psychiatric hospitals.”
In addition, a report published by the American “Sabine Labs” organization that conducts research on mental health via the Internet last March ranked Yemen 46th among 57 countries in the mental health index. The report stated that 24.4 percent of the Yemenis surveyed suffer from difficulties in dealing with the pressures of daily life.
Almost nine years of war in Yemen make more than two-thirds of its 21.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid, and repeated outbreaks of disease have led to the collapse of the health system across the country. UN estimates indicate that 46 percent of all health facilities are partially functioning, or may be completely out of service due to a lack of staff, financial resources, electricity, medicines, supplies and equipment.
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