‘Do you think I am a poor man? That I cannot afford your medicines for my wife!’ The fifty year old elder glared at Jane and Dr Mary. He had brought his young wife to be cured – not to be shown how to help her breathe into a paper bag!
‘Jane’ (not her real name) has lived, on and off, in Afghanistan for five years. She first went out when the Taliban were still in power: so her first job was to redesign a Mental Health Project so that it would be more ‘acceptable.’ She says: ‘We had to keep the sexes segregated – women could not even walk anywhere unaccompanied by a male relative. In the end we had to have a clinic for women and children – run by female doctors only.’
It was here that the elder brought his 22 year old wife, Karima, for help. Her entire body was in spasm and she could hardly move. For Dr. Mary, the diagnosis was relatively simple, these were physical symptoms brought on by anxiety, depression and stress – all too common in Afghanistan under the Taliban, but here compounded by Karima being married off to a much older man. More specifically, the spasming was caused by hyper-ventilation: and the first step to a cure required the use of the paper bag.
The clinic’s job was to show that mental health issues have to be dealt with over time – the physical manifestations often needed little medical intervention, once the mental health issues were addressed. You don’t, contrary to what local people believed, necessarily need lots of expensive Western medicines to effect a cure.
Of course life has changed since 2001 when the Taliban fell – women can now walk about on the street. But outside the cities, women still live very restricted lives. Despite this, Jane still says that: ‘Afghanistan is a beautiful country, and its people are truly amazing to have endured so much. But a real spirit of justice, of truth, and forgiveness needs to flow for real peace to be found.’
And Karima? Her husband brought her back the next week to talk with Dr Mary. He was a happy man – Karima had improved so much that she was able to undertake her duties in the home; so he would let the doctor continue her ‘unorthodox’ treatment of his wife!
Tags: Afghanistan, Taliban