The impact of the conflict in Afghanistan on civilian mental health

SUMMARY: “The doctors wanted to discharge me…I begged them to keep me in longer.” These are the words of Faridon, a 40-year-old man from Afghanistan’s Baghlan Province, who was held in a hospital for mental health issues for just over one week. But Faridon’s desperation to receive help is indicative of a much wider problem in Afghanistan. There is a psychological epidemic plaguing the Afghani people, and it is fast becoming increasingly apparent that it is largely a result of forty years of uninterrupted war there.