War causing mental illness in Afghanistan

[Enrique]

http://inthesetimes.com/article/13008/collateral_insanity_in_afghanistan

War makes people crazy.

The war in Afghanistan has taken a devastating toll on mental health–from depression to suicide, domestic violence to murderous rampages. And financial and family strains, as well as attempts at self-medication, have exacerbated the casualty count.

I am talking about the war’s effect on Afghans. But after U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales massacred 17 civilians, including nine children, on March 11, media and experts quickly rallied to lament how the mental stress of Bales’ multiple combat deployments provided sympathetic context to the Panjwai butchery. The ignored context is an Afghan population traumatized by more than four decades of cultural and military devastation wrought by invading armies, mercenaries, women-hating Taliban and warlords – on top of a life expectancy in the low 60s.

Many Afghans – blameless in ways that volunteer soldiers never can be – have been pushed past sanity by violence; by becoming refugees or internally displaced; and by losing family, culture, educational opportunities, professions, houses, rights and hope.

“[V]iolence is now embedded in daily routine,” concluded the Dutch nongovernmental organization (NGO) Healthnet. The World Health Organization (WHO) found that 60 percent of Afghans have mental illnesses including anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Women and children bear the brunt: More than half of all women are depressed, with 78 percent suffering anxiety disorders, according to Healthnet researchers. And 80 percent of children surveyed in Kabul “felt frightened, sad and unable to cope,” with 90 percent believing they will die in war, according to a 2011 report by the U.K.-based NGO Tearfund.

While 227 health professionals serve the 40,000 troops at Bales’ military base – Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash. – Afganistan’s 26 million inhabitants have a few dozen trained providers, and they lack medications and adequate facilities. Services in rural areas, where 75 percent of the population lives, “are nonexistent,” WHO reports.

(...)

[pscot]

1. War caused by mental illness

in Washington D.C.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. +1000.

[lunatica]

2. Some of us have known this for decades

But still war is glammed up and wrapped in pretty red, white and blue ribbons with lots of glitz and pomp at least once every decade. Just in time to sucker the new generation of nineteen year olds.

[Marzupialis]

3. George W. Bush didn't have to go to war

In order to become crazy.

[polly7]

5. Yes, war seems to have had a devastating effect on people, especially.. children in Iraq and

Afghanistan. The WHO has been reporting for years about skyrocketing mental illness and PTSD among children. I read of a father recently in Pakistan telling of the ordeal his children face daily being terrified of the drones overhead, not knowing whether going outside even to play can get them killed.

War is evil.

http://www.zcommunications.org/the-phases-of-war-public-rejects-afghanistan-war-iraqs-almost-ending-and-who-doesnt-want-war-with-iran-by-phyllis-bennis

The killing of U.S. troops by their ostensible allies in the Afghan military now make up 20 percent of all the U.S. combat deaths this year. Somehow, though, we never hear that the Afghan soldier who turns his gun on a U.S. soldier has "snapped" – that maybe he has post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD), that maybe he was so enraged because he saw his baby daughter killed in a drone strike the night before and he lost control. No, we only hear that "the Taliban must have infiltrated" the Afghan army or police. PTSD is apparently only for trained soldiers on our side. Except that in a 2009 UN-backed survey, the Afghan government’s own Ministry of Health estimated that 66 percent – a full two-thirds – of the Afghan population, suffers from a variety of mental illnesses, most of them stress-related and including PTSD.

There’s a great deal of talk about Sgt. Robert Bales, the apparent gunman in the villages in Kandahar, and whether he had PTSD or other impairments. And we’re right to be concerned about the still-inadequate care U.S. veterans get when they come home – soldiers can be simultaneously victim and war criminal. (Iraq Veterans Against the War have mobilized their Operation Recovery campaign to defend soldiers’ right to heal before being redeployed – a campaign that also denies the Pentagon access to these young instruments of battle for illegal wars.) But we shouldn’t forget that those 2/3 of Afghans – something like 20 million people – face PTSD or other mental disorders with only FORTY-TWO psychiatrists and psychologists in the entire country. I talked about this reality on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show last week, as well as the potential consequences for U.S. policy and decisions about ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan. You can follow the link if you want to listen or read the transcript. (And it would be great if you comment too…)

[Pharaoh]

6. War "is" mental illness n/t

[quinnox]

7. we have to support the troops and the mission

and if we don't kill the terrorists over there, then they will come over here and kill us. At least we are keeping them busy so they won't be able to plan for attacks here in the USA! And I'm sure there must be a good reason to have troops over there anyhow, because I'm a patriotic American and trust those in power.





My sheep impression for the day (unfortunately, this way of thinking is not only confined to the right wing either)

[xchrom]

8. Du rec. Nt

[felix_numinous]

9. How can war not cause mental illness?