Today, she says, she feels like a different person. “My life has changed since coming here for help,” she says. “I’m so grateful. Before, I was hopeless and desperate to a point where I wanted my life to be over. I couldn’t share my problems with anyone else before.”
Psychosocial counselling services like this, supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, are providing a safe space for many women and girls, as well as men and boys, to discuss their problems in confidence with trained professionals.
With mental health services still scarce across the country, and stigma surrounding mental health issues in Afghanistan, many feel they have nowhere else to turn for help.
Farzana, who works for UNHCR partner, HealthNet TPO, says that since she started working at the clinic earlier this year, she has seen a 40 to 50 per cent increase in the number of patients seeking help. “The increase is due to several factors: the increasing restrictions on women and girls, high rates of domestic violence in people’s homes and also the overall worsening economic situation,” she says.
The recently introduced Law on the Promulgation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which brought in new measures restricting people’s personal conduct, movements and dress, has only added to the pressures women in Afghanistan face. Many feel hopeless, depressed and angry.
