"We have a pandemic of suicidal thoughts in Afghanistan. The situation is the worst ever, and the world rarely thinks or talks about it," says psychologist Dr. Amal.
Dr. Amal tells us she received 170 calls for help within two days of the announcement that women would be banned from universities. Now she gets roughly 7 to 10 new calls for help every day. Most of her patients are girls and young women.
In Afghanistan's deeply patriarchal society, one worn out by four decades of war, the UN estimates that one in two people—most of them women—suffered from psychological distress even before the Taliban takeover in 2021. But experts have told the BBC that things are now worse than ever before because of the Taliban government's clampdown on women's freedoms, and the economic crisis in the country.
A study done in Herat province by the Afghanistan Centre for Epidemiological Studies, released in March this year, has shown that two-thirds of Afghan adolescents reported symptoms of depression. The UN has raised an alarm over "widespread mental health issues and escalating accounts of suicides."
The Taliban say they are not recording suicide numbers, and they didn't respond to questions about a surge in figures. Because of the stigma attached to it, many families do not report a suicide.
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