Relentless Afghan conflict leaves traumatized generation

Among them are some of the unseen victims of the war in Afghanistan: a generation of people mentally damaged by their exposure to incessant conflict.

The accumulation of psychological problems could begin to undermine national reconstruction and development, say health workers at the country's only facility for treating mental illness.

Ghazia Sadid, a 26-year-old mother, endured depression for years after a family member was killed in a bomb attack, and she fled her home in fear of more violence.

I still hear the sounds of explosions. I still remember the fighting, but since I have come here my behaviour has changed, she said, speaking at the Kabul Mental Health Hospital, a green-walled building on the outskirts of the city.

I was totally lost and my life was over. After two years of treatment, now I love my children, she said. I loved them then too, but in my imagination I had done something wrong.

The concept of mental illness is alien to many in Afghanistan, where the public health system, like much of the country's infrastructure, has been wrecked by decades of war.

Frequently, people suffering psychological disorders are thought by their families to be under the influence of malign spirits, or showing symptoms of a physical ailment.

The Kabul

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