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CNN Saturday Morning News

Kabul's Mental Hospital Treats Dozens of Patients Suffering From Depression a Day

Aired December 29, 2001 - 11:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wherever bin Laden may be, the scars from his al Qaeda and Taliban followers will long be felt in Afghanistan. CNN's John Vause says these scars may be the most difficult to heal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Everywhere here, there are constant reminders of the pain of the past, ruined buildings, abandoned tanks, infrastructure falling apart. They were the years without music, without television, without fun, when women were brutalized, kept indoors. And after years of drought, the countryside is brown and food is scarce, while poverty abounds.

While many have been left physically scarred, many others have been scarred emotionally.

"For my 14 years in the psychiatric field and each family I've met, there is at least one person who has psychological problems" says Dr. Awara (ph), who is the assistant director of Kabul's Mental Hospital. He runs an outpatient clinic, on most days treating dozens of patients all suffering from symptoms of depression.

Like Hamid Yuen (ph), who lost his government job when the Taliban came to power. "I suffered from insomnia and it got worse. Then I became apathetic." He says he doesn't want to be around people and lost interest in his family.

So too, Salaam (ph), just 15. She told me she's been taking medication for depression for the past four years. She blames the Taliban's treatment of women for many of her problems.

Mohammad Asad (ph) is the pharmacist at Kabul's hospital. He has little medication, only what was donated by the World Health Organization months ago. Mostly he uses mild sedatives to treat depression.

He knows it isn't ideal, but he says he has little choice. It's all he's got, and here if the patient doesn't respond to medication, they still use electric shock therapy.

Then there are those who use heroin to escape their problems. Dr. Awara (ph) says they can do little to treat these patients, they simply don't have the resources.

(on camera): There's no way to know just how many Afghans are suffering from some form of depression. No official numbers are kept, but doctors here say from their experience, it is common and widespread and hardly surprising given everything that has happened over the past two decades.

(voice over): Still they say a new government and new optimism may help cure this national depression, but doctors and aid workers here are worried what will happen should this administration go the same way as so many before it? How much more disappointment can one generation take?

John Vause, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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