WUNRN
INDIA-KASHMIR
August
29, 2008
By Afsaana
Rashid
Indian-Administered Kashmir
Kashmir’s
ongoing armed conflict over the past two decades has had physical, cognitive,
emotional and behavioral consequences for everyone living in the valley.
Although no official figures exist, everyone agrees there has been an increase
in the number of both physically challenged and mentally ill in Kashmir over
the last 20 years.
Kashmir’s Composite Rehabilitation
Centre (CRC) says that an estimated 30-40% of all those seeking their services
have been affected by the state’s conflict. And according to studies, most
Kashmiris are in need of treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“Violence
has touched each family living in Kashmir one way or another. This leads to
serious effects on the well being of people. Relationships get strained,
accidents become common after severe stresses and the danger of alcohol and
drug abuse are highly likely,” says Sheba, a clinical psychologist.
In 1990,
1,762 patients registered at the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital in
Srinagar - the only one of its kind to serve the valley’s entire population.
According to the human rights group, Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society
(JKCCS), by 2000 the number had surged to 38,696. In 2002, the figure rose to
48,000. Prior to the eruption of conflict in 1989 there were hardly any known
cases of PTSD.
Children fall through the cracks
PTSD and
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are commonly found in the 76 residents (ages
5-12) of an “exclusive” female orphanage located some 10-15 kilometers away
from the city. According to a study conducted by the valley’s leading
psychiatrist, Dr. Mushtaq A. Margoob, Dr. Akash Y. Khan, Dr. Yasir H. Rather
and others, PTSD was the most prevalent psychiatric disorder, diagnosed in 40
percent of the children. MDD followed (25%), along with conversion disorder
(12%), panic disorder (9%), Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder (6%) and
seizure disorder (6%).
Being female, young, and from a
lower socio-economic class, these young girls possess many of the risk factors
for PTSD. Margoob’s study found that the loss of a social support network,
which chronic conflict is known to cause, rendered many of them homeless. Some
were completely orphaned but all had experienced the trauma of losing a loved
one.
The study
supports the belief held by many childcare professionals that orphanages are
bad for children, preventing normal social and psychological development. The
harm is more extensive when a child is admitted as an infant and remains for
several years.
Institutionalization
in early childhood increases the likelihood that children will grow into
psychologically impaired and economically unproductive adults, warns the study.
Most childcare experts believe that family placement is the most ideal option
for orphaned children.
Dr. Bashir
Ahmad Dabla, former Sociology Department Head at the University of Kashmir,
says the conflict has caused out-of-control behavior and attitude in many
children, increasing delinquency and school drop out rates (now up to 40%).
Dr. G. A.Wani, a psychiatrist, says
that children in the schools of Baramulla, Tangmarg, Badgam and Rajbagh showed
signs of depression and hysteria after being examined. Often these signs are
not recognized or acknowledged by parents, mainly because of social stigma
attached to psychiatric disorders. Fearing social rejection, many do not seek
counseling for their children.
Educationally
disturbed, physically ruined, mentally tortured, socially isolated and
politically harassed, many of the children fall between society’s cracks.
“Ten years
ago, we did not get more than 30 such patients a day. Today, we examine nearly
200 such cases,” says Dr. Wani.
Professor AG
Madhosh of the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development
(NIPCCD) points to startling revelations in his research. “Most of the
adolescents who were found engaging in drug abuse started with the consumption
of cough syrups [and graduated] to the use of opium. A small percentage of the
adolescent girls was found involved in prostitution, directly or indirectly,”
he reports.
Women
At-Risk
Experts are
ringing the alarm bell as suicide rates, particularly among women and youth,
have gone up.
Dr. Dabla
says women are committing suicide more than men, especially in Kashmir’s rural
areas. Attributable to the conflict, Dr. Dabla adds “All throughout the world,
suicide rates are highest among men and more intense in urban areas, but in the
Kashmir valley, the reverse is true. Failure in school, unemployment or family
problem are common reasons for suicide but the underlying factor is the
conflict.”
• Women
at a vegetable market in Leh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, a region that has
seen conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. Photograph by Nir Nussbaum. •
Women face the added pressure of abuse
and harassment at home. “Both mental and physical problems among women have
increased. Neurological and heart related problems that were not so common
among women earlier are prevalent now. In males, it has affected their attitude
and behavior,” says Dr. Dabla.
According to
doctors at the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital, women constitute 62
percent of patients visiting the hospital, yet there are still hundreds of
women who have no idea that counseling is available.
Medecins
Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) tries to fill the lacunae
by offering free counseling to patients to help resolve personal and emotional
problems. MSF stresses that treatment differs from person to person and is a
process that may take days, weeks or months depending on the case. MSF finds
counseling to be most effective when clients regularly work on the counselor’s
suggestions and exercises.
Shahida
(name has been changed) knows the value of counseling first hand. “I visited
[the MSF] unit in a local hospital after one of my acquaintances suggested I
go. I have started feeling better now. They helped me with counseling, which is
of course free, and they suggested that I keep myself busy with some activity. I
found it useful,” she says.
#####
About
the Author
Afsaana Rashid
is a journalist living in Indian-administered Kashmir and the author of Waiting for Justice: Widows and Half
Widows, a book that addresses the plight of many women whose
husbands have been subjected to enforced disappearance or custodial killings
over the past two decades of Kashmir's conflict. Currently a senior
correspondent with Kashmir’s Daily
Etalaat, she has also been a correspondent for The Kashmir Times and Kashmir Images. She
received her Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University
of Kashmir.
In 2005,
Afsaana was awarded a fellowship for her work on the impact of conflict on the
subsistence livelihoods of marginalized communities in Kashmir by Action Aid
India. The following year, she was awarded a Sanjoy Ghose Media fellowship for
her work in conflict areas. She also received a UN Population Fund-Laadli Media
Award for best reporting in adverse conditions on gender issues in April 2008.
Devoted to
covering human rights violations, Afsaana hopes to give a voice to the
voiceless.
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