Afghan women find safe space in group therapy to address mental health issues | UNHCR

Farzana organizes group therapy sessions on specific topics, from anxiety to stress and insomnia. He also offers individual sessions. Working in a local clinic allows you to count on collaboration with community health workers, who disseminate information about mental health and psychiatric problems, promote available services, and identify cases that require special care.

UNHCR supports similar programs throughout Afghanistan. In Bamyan, in the Central Highlands region, at a group therapy session organized by another UNHCR partner, WSTA (Watan Social and Technical Services Association), around 20 women sit together to discuss how which they handle pressure after the new restrictions introduced by the de facto. authorities, which have made their lives much more difficult.

“It’s a place where I can come and talk about my problems. “I have nowhere else to go.”

“Today there is a lot of domestic violence. There is conflict, there are no opportunities, there is no work; [o] There are only jobs that don’t pay much,” says one of the participants, Fátima, 38, a mother of four daughters who has not been able to go to school since the restrictions that prohibit girls from studying beyond the sixth grade. “This is the first time I have attended these sessions and I think they are very useful. It is a place where I can come and talk about my problems. “I have nowhere else to go.”

Another participant, Najiba, 25, started attending group therapy sessions after suffering from depression. She was afraid that she lost her will and abandoned her studies in obstetrics, one of the few professional opportunities open to women. “I dreamed of finishing my higher education so that I could take care of the family and pay our expenses, but when the Taliban arrived, I lost everything. ” [y] my mental problems started,” he says. “The sessions gave me hope and the psychologist helped me find strength. I decided to resume my studies and now I am studying [obstetricia] again”.

Disasters add to the needs

According to Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Needs Response Plan (HNRP) in 2024, more than half of the Afghan population has some degree of depression, and one in five suffer from more serious mental health problems.

Through its community monitoring work, UNHCR has also identified a widespread need for increased mental health and psychosocial support. The frequent crises caused by natural disasters and the arrival of family members forced to return from Iran and Pakistan have only worsened the situation. In October last year, when a series of devastating earthquakes shook the western region of Herat, trained staff from UNHCR partners were quickly deployed to provide psychological first aid and emotional support to bereaved families. Similar measures were implemented when floods They hit several parts of the country in May and July this year.