In the wake of a day in Iraq worse than six Virginia Techs, this first-person narrative also caught my eye:
There used to be about 80 psychiatrists in Iraq, now there are just 20 to 25…
Iraqi people are living in difficult times. Most of us have been exposed to aggression: attacks in the street, car bombings, kidnappings.
Most Iraqi people now deal with each other in an aggressive way; they show disturbed behaviour; they have lost their civility.
We don’t know how to treat these problems really.
But I can’t leave Iraq. If I and my friends leave, who will help our people?
80 psychiatrists for 27.5 million people. Now 25 psychiatrists for 27.5 million people. If there aren’t 25 psychiatrists on the campus of Virginia Tech right at this moment, I’ll be very surprised.
It was suggested in comments that rather than a gun ban, we need more mental health care. I’d agree with that, even as it’s revealed that the gunman had a psychiatric history including, at one point, institutionalization. Was the necessary followup done? Was the care personalized to his specific constellation of symptoms? No amount of second-guessing can possibly be helpful.
What is worth thinking about is what happens to people who are, on a daily basis, subjected to far worse trauma than most Americans will ever imagine, who are currently being “served” by one psychiatrist for every 1.1 million people?
Most of the children are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, especially those who have been exposed to kidnapping.
Most of the children I see are bedwetting. They have disturbed behaviour or epilepsy.
We treat them with simple medication; it is very difficult.
Most of the families come here for help and sometimes we can do nothing for them, except offer support and advice.
Twenty years from now, this BBC article will be worth remembering.
15 Responses to ““There used to be about 80 psychiatrists in Iraq, now there are just 20 to 25.””
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Not to quibble with your math but if they had 80 psychiatrists for the 27.5 million people before the war, then the 25 left only have to care for + or - 25 million, as 2 million people have fled and another half a million ( at least) have been killed). Only 1 million per doctor.
Man this sucks beyond metaphor.
I believe psychiatrists are first MDs. MDs would mean advanced education. Educated people have been leaving Iraq in droves since we invaded. Not sure of the pertinent latin phrase a lawyer would use, but I think it is a logic trail that is fairly straight forward. My $.02
+ or - 25 million, as 2 million people have fled…
Yeah, I was using CIA factbook estimates, which are more than suspect since the numbers show the death rate falling, and population rising, since 2002. Made up numbers, but useful and close enough to probable reality for a general idea of the state of mental health care.
thank you for this. I have been thinking about how the us public and media agonize over the VTech killings but could totally care less about regular massacres on a much larger scale happening in iraq as a result of our (USA) actions.
Here is Australia, having a mental illness or a history of one can exclude you from being issued a gun license. Not always, but often. There are times I’ve been annoyed, as it would probably exclude me from application as well, but I can’t argue with the logic.
I don’t think it’s always enforced properly here, sadly. The Martin Bryant shooting here 10 years ago, which killed 35 people, was committed by someone who owned some of his guns legally. From what I know, his psychiatric record should have been picked up on by police (or medical staff) some time before he went on his rampage.
Sorry, bit of a threadjack there. Twas unintentional.
thank you for this. I have been thinking about how the us public and media agonize over the Vtech killing sbut could totally care less about regular nassacres on a much larger scale happening in iraq as a result of our (USA) actions.
Sadie, I was thinking that same thing during the minute of silence one of my profs proposed in class yesterday. I didn’t want to seem heartless or insensitive. Thanks for posting this.
[…] Aguste at Pandagon has more disheartening stats for you. […]
Andrew Sullivan had a great comment:
“Imagine that this kind of massacre happened every day. Imagine a police force that was far too small to even respond to most of them. Imagine this occurring repeatedly for years until the perpetrators and their accomplices became the de facto power-brokers throughout the land. Imagine the shootings also being accompanied by the brutal torture of victims. Imagine families never having finality on whether their own siblings or parents or children have been murdered or not.
This is Iraq today. Now think of the justified rage many feel at the VT campus police chief and university president for misjudgments. Now imagine them presiding over several more massacres in the same place. Ask yourself: why do we not feel as enraged by those responsible for security in Iraq? Are those victims not human beings too? Are they not children and mothers and fathers and sons? Are we not ultimately responsible for them, having destroyed the institutions of order in their country? Now go watch John Bolton tell the victims to go help themselves.”
[…] Problems with a deep impact are cropping up as a result of America’s occupation, and putting PR in between this country and international opinion seems like a potentially dangerous move. Members of the PR Coalition are skilled at portraying image-challenged clients — like pharmaceutical companies, oil companies and the nuclear industry — as responsible, commendable contributors to U.S. society. But applying the same PR tactics to issues of war, national sovereignty and global economic development risks increasing international resentment of the United States. […]
so much for the law of supply and demand !
NPR mentioned this morning, as part of a story about the questionable success of the Surge, that the Baghdad morgue accepts about forty bodies showing signs of torture or execution every day.
That’s a Virginia Tech shooting… every day.
As an honest question, what can America to right what we’ve created in Iraq? I think withdrawing the majority of our troops is a necessary first step, but what then?
Robert, I wish I or anyone I knew had an answer to that question that wasn’t “Nothing. They’re fucked and it’s our fault.”
Nothing. They’re fucked. It’s our fault.
The best we can do is stop making it worse.
For the individuals who suffered in the VaTech attacks, the level of suffering is comprable to what an Iraqi individual might suffer. But, for the respective Nations, the suffering in the US will always pale in comparison to a place like Iraq, or even Russia.
People will be clamoring for someone’s head or heads very soon in the wake of the massacre at VaTech. Have we been clamoring for anyone’s head on account of the Iraq disaster? By “we” I mean most people.
By no means do I intend to minimize the personal suffering of those direclty affected in Blacksburg. I do think its worth questioning if we as a Nation, as Americans, need to have better perspective and priorities on what constitutes a disaster, regardless of where it happens, especially if its on our watch as is the case in Iraq.