With increasing Taliban restrictions against Afghan women, the mental health crisis worsens. "I feel

With increasing Taliban restrictions against Afghan women, the mental health crisis worsens. “I feel like an empty shell of a human being.”
Anselma Ellingwood | July 14, 2023

For nearly two years, Afghan women find themselves at the forefront of a mental health crisis over the bleak outlook for their future and the future of their country. Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan are suffering from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, as a direct result of being forced into isolation by the Taliban. “I just want someone to hear my voice. I’m in pain, and I’m not the only one,” an Afghan university student told the BBC, holding back tears. The university student attempted to end her life a few months ago.

When the Taliban took power by force in August of 2021, their representatives said they would be more moderate. The Taliban broke its promises of being a more moderate government than it was during the 1990s when women were forbidden from attending school or working outside the home. There have been over 100 edicts issued restricting freedom of media, women’s education, employment, and many other areas since the Taliban takeover in 2021. A majority of the orders are about women and girls, restricting their rights and freedoms. Many Afghan women say the return of the Taliban feels like “being sentenced to a life in prison.” In December 2022, the Taliban banned Afghan women from attending university and for many, that ended their dream of higher education and the life they had envisioned for themselves for years. Even those who were in the last year of their studies were forced to stop. The ban on higher education added to a growing list of Taliban edicts, banning women from employment, education, leaving home and accessing healthcare, among other areas.

“Pandemic” of suicide

There is an underlying but urgent mental health crisis in Afghanistan on top of unemployment, hunger, poverty, and gender apartheid against women. Psychologist Dr. Amal*, reports that Afghanistan has “a pandemic of suicidal thoughts” and that “the situation is the worst ever, and the world rarely thinks or talks about it.” United Nations estimates show that one in two people in Afghanistan –mostly women – suffered from psychological distress even before 2021. Before 2021, nearly 2 million Afghan women had been diagnosed with severe depression, according to Ayesha Ahmad, an expert on global mental health at St. Georges University in London. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where the suicide rate is higher for women than men – 80% of suicides each year are women.
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The Taliban blames women for their suicide and won’t record suicide statistics. Local news agencies began reporting on multiple suicides across the country. The Taliban does not record suicide numbers or respond to escalating figures. Dr. Shaan, a psychiatrist, said that they are not allowed to record or assess suicide statistics, but that there is hardly anyone who is not suffering from a mental illness. Because of the stigma attached to suicides, however, many families avoid reporting them. In Herat province, the Afghanistan Center for Epidemiological Studies released a report in March showing that two-thirds of Afghan adolescents reported symptoms of depression. Most of the patients at the mental health department at Herat District Hospital are women’s rights activists, former government employees, and journalists.
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Sources:

Springer 03/06/2023; BBC 06/05/2023; RFE/RL 11/04/2021; Analyst News 03/30/2023

https://feminist.org/news/with-increasing-taliban-restrictions-against-afghan-women-the-mental-health-crisis-worsens-i-feel-like-an-empty-shell-of-a-human-being/