At Afghan shrine, ancient treatment for mental illness

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“He’s getting better!” said Mia Shafiq, the man responsible for his recovery and the one who shackled him to the wall of a shrine in this eastern Afghan city.

The man’s brothers drove him here from southern Kandahar province two weeks ago, drawn by the same belief that has attracted families from across Afghanistan for more than two centuries. Legend has it that those with mental disorders will be healed after spending 40 days in one of the shrine’s 16 tiny concrete cells. They live on a subsistence diet of bread, water and black pepper near the grave of a famous pir, or spiritual leader, named Mia Ali Sahib.

Every year, hundreds of Afghans bring mentally ill relatives here rather than to hospitals, rejecting a clinical approach to what many here see as a spiritual deficiency. The treatment meted out at the shrine and a handful of others like it nationwide might be archaic, but the symptoms are often a response to 21st-century warfare: 11 years of nighttime raids, assassinations and suicide bombings.

For over a decade, Western donors have helped train Afghan psychiatrists, who diagnose many of their patients as having an ailment with a distinctly modern acronym: PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Mental health departments in Afghanistan are plastered with posters detailing the disorder’s symptoms. Pharmacies are stocked with antipsychotic drugs.

Wow. The writer of the article really doesn't seem to care about these abused people.

Oh for the love of God.....What other fine medical advancements are they making on the cutting edge in Afghanistan? Is the Frontal Lobotomy making a come back too? I mean even the U.S. found it a useful treatment around the turn of the last century.

Ummm... has anyone forgotten, the U.S. is kinda the law in that place since Kabul couldn't police a parking lot on game day without getting themselves shot or running for the hills as everyone comes out. Perhaps they might DO something about such a clear example of systematic abuse of the population. Just an idea....while we're there anyway and all.....

reply to post by ubeenhad


This doctor who wears a chain around his neck reminds me of the what used to be humorous saying...

"The beatings will continue until morale improves."

I used to find that phrase funny, but not any more.

Per his own words...“in case any of them get out of control.”

Obamacare?

Sorry, couldn't resist

I wonder what classifies as mental problems if that is a treatment.

reply to post by cconn487


Well, looking at what the west classified as "feeble mindedness" until recently we have things like epilepsy, narcolepsy, learning disorders and of course the classic schizophrenia.

Sicko backwards people, chaining people to walls won't fix a busted brain. As for the reporter not caring about abuse, I think you have to remember most decent reporters try not to get emotionally involved in their subject.

isolation and fasting are good for the soul

i'd recommend something more shamanic, but other than the soul-retrieval aspect , describing "the short sharp shock" would violate T&C

just because big-pharma and western "medicine" don't make out like bandits
doesn't mean it's worthless

of course from the viewpoint of western "medicine"

non western/alternative medicine is merely the ignorance of drunken indians, ignorant negroes, wily orientals*, and backwards brown people.**

* oriental is a racist term, the proper term is Asian
** quoted extempore from a speech delivered at a naturopathic conference in cuba given by an old freind and mentor of mine over 30 years ago [you can add crazy white people as well]