“We have 20 beds but only 12 patients right now,” says the head of the mental ward, Ahmad Zahir Allahyar. “Our treatment uses both medication and psychotherapy. The doctors counsel the patients, they talk to them as friends. There are music programs, they can watch TV, play board games, study … to free them from depression.”
A few years ago, patients here would have been tied to their beds but this practice has been stopped, the doctors adds, as people in blue uniforms amble in the corridor.
“War is the main cause for developing this kind of disease — most of them have histories of losing members of their families,” Allahyar says. Many Afghans try to cope themselves and it’s only the chronically ill who need a hospital such as this one, he says.
One of them is Raza Khan, who is about 50 years old and has a beard that is more salt than pepper. He says he has been ill since the time of the 1979 to 1989 Soviet invasion when he was a mujahidin (holy fighter).
“I saw a lot of fighting. I wasn’t scared of the Russian tanks or artillery but I got tired, not sleeping well. I started beating my relatives,” he says. “I know I’m ill. Whenever I’m cured, I want to go back to my family.”
Next to him is 27-year-old Jamshir, a former refugee in Pakistan who returned to Afghanistan three years ago.
“I have no job, no money,” he says. “I have long-term malaria. I’m causing problems for my family. “Here I am given pills, medicine, and after that I feel ok. I want to get cured and to help rebuild my country.”
The center can admit no women — this would mean building a separate building although this is being considered. Asked about the Mia Ali sanctuary, hospital medical director Abdel Shakoor says that education will one day see such practices disappear.
“Day after day, our network to cover mental illness increases and the number of people who believe in the shrine decreases,” the doctor says.
“But it will take a lot of time to change the behavior of the people. It needs more education, social organization systems, community participation, to change the habits of people.”
But he is not optimistic about the chances of his own patients being cured.
“In 21 days, we can only put them out of danger, not cure them,” he says. “They are chronic patients, the treatment is so long.”
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