Iraq Struggles With Mental Illness

Amid sectarian violence, bombings and U.S. military raids, the Iraqi people have another problem to contend with: an epidemic of mental illness. More Iraqi citizens are seeking help for trauma-induced mental conditions, but the nation is not equipped to serve everyone's needs. Government-funded Al-Rashad, Iraq's only long-standing mental health institution, has experienced a 10 percent rise in patients and doctors have reported turning people away due to overcrowding. Iraq's 30 million people have 100 psychiatrists between them, and there has been a significant rise in self-medication—prescription drug abuse tops the substance abuse problem in the state. "The violence, aggression and turmoil in Iraq is directly connected to the increase in mental problems," said Naama Humaidi, the general secretary of the psychiatric association. "There is an exceptional, threatening situation that cannot be understood by any other society. It made a thumbprint on each person in our country."