Abstract
War damages the very fabric of the society. It not only damages its physical structure but also disrupts its entire social tissue, its environment and the normal routine of life for which people account several reasons. Kashmir has been witnessing a chronic socio-political unrest for the last 2½ decades now. The conflict has had an enormous impact on different aspects of Kashmir’s society. Indeed, there has been a colossal damage to the property and infrastructure; however, its impact can be felt nowhere more than on the mental health of the people of Kashmir. Deliberating upon the human suffering, the conflict has not only left thousands dead and orphaned, unleashed and unmitigated violence on women and children, but the alarming increase in the psychiatric morbidity in general, is among the worst possible forms of suffering. This paper thus attempts to give an up-to-date description of the current mental health scenario and ensuing physiological and behavioural implications among the people of Kashmir. Database for this review included PubMed, medIND, Google scholar, and a number of reputed dailies. The studies reviewed have been published in peer reviewed journals, featuring the socio-political chaos in kashmir and its overall effect on the fate-bitten residents.
Highlights
War damages the very fabric of the society
In areas affected by chronic strife a larger chunk of population is expected to experience mental health problems and such figures ought to apply to the people of Kashmir where high levels of psychological distress has been seen prevalent in the (Jong, Kam, Ford, Lokuge, Fromm, Galen, et al 2008)
Study conducted by Margoob, the valleys leading psychiatrist, reveals that about 1700 patients had visited Kashmir’s sole psychiatric department in the year 1990, but in year 2002 the number had gone up to 48,000 and by December 2004, a total of 62,000 patients had visited the psychiatric services of the department (Margoob, 1995).According to a survey conducted by State Mental Health Society (SMHS), around 80,000 people from Kashmir valley have visited various mental health professionals during the 2005-06 and nearly three fourth have been diagnosed with serious psychological disorders
Summary
War damages the very fabric of the society. It damages its physical structure and disrupts its entire social tissue, its environment and the normal routine of life for which people account several reasons. In areas affected by chronic strife a larger chunk of population is expected to experience mental health problems and such figures ought to apply to the people of Kashmir where high levels of psychological distress has been seen prevalent in the (Jong, Kam, Ford, Lokuge, Fromm, Galen, et al 2008).
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