Yemen: rising severe mental health problems

Written by David Fletcher 11 Nov 2021
Yemen: rising severe mental health problems

Now in its seventh year, the crisis in Yemen is no longer headline news. But the conflict continues to have a devastating impact on people’s wellbeing, and on their mental health in particular. In Hajjah, Doctors Without Borders teams have found a high need for mental health services. The range of conditions that they treat is very large; there are people suffering from anxiety and insomnia, psychosis, depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. They regularly see patients following suicide attempts: such an attempt might be provoked by a variety of circumstances. Severe symptoms of psychosis can manifest as auditory hallucinations which tell the patient to hurt him or herself, or a patient might be suffering from severe depression. Lack of awareness leads to stigma, discrimination, and segregation, and this leads to people hiding their conditions. Yemen’s conflict has also reduced access to healthcare, education, and food, as well as restricting freedom of movement.

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