Content warning: This article mentions mental health.
The war has left its scars and negative impacts on Syrians, especially women, who face numerous daily pressures that make them more susceptible to mental illnesses and disorders. These manifest as anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness, or fear of the future as a result of displacement, bombings, loss of a breadwinner, in addition to exposure to violence, murder, rape, and harsh living conditions .
Fareeda 33 years old) from the town of Sarmin, north of Idlib, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression that has impeded her ability to work, communicate, or perform the simplest tasks. It was only through a friend that she learned that what she was experiencing was psychological, not physical, as she had believed.
Fareeda affirms that she developed the illness after losing her two children in an airstrike by a Syrian regime warplane, while they were on their way to school about two years ago. She recounts, to Missing Perspectives: “I can’t forget that day when I heard a loud explosion nearby after my children left home on their way to school, then the neighbours told me that my children had passed away.”
Fareeda indicates that she remained for a period of time unable to believe their death, and she lost the will to live, and nightmares haunted her, without being able to forget what happened.
She explains that she prefers isolation permanently, adding in a sad voice, “When a person loses someone dear, it is difficult to get rid of the psychological effects no matter how much time passes.”
Many Syrian women are also subjected to domestic violence and abuse, which is a serious problem for mental health.
Samia (25 years old), displaced from the city of Maarat al-Numan south of Idlib, attempted take her own life due to the violence she suffers from her husband. She says, “After we were displaced and lived in a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Idlib, I dropped out of school and married at a young age to a man more than 10 years older than me. After our marriage, he began to abuse and beat me for the slightest reasons, and when I decided to leave him and return to my parents’ home, my father forced me to go back to him, so that I would not become a divorced and marginalised woman in the eyes of society.”
Samia states that she suffers from severe depression, feels constantly exhausted and is deprived of sleep due to insomnia. She also has low trust in others and tries to keep people at a distance, which has damaged her relationships with her family, friends, and everyone around her.
The “Syrian Response Coordinators” team recorded 104 suicides and 87 suicide attempts across the country including 37 suicides and 21 suicide attempts in the northwest of Syria. These statistics reflected incidents from the beginning of 2024 until September 10, 2024.
Nour Al-Suleim, a mental health counsellor (33 years old) from the city of Sarmada, north of Idlib, discusses the reasons for the prevalence of mental illnesses, saying to Missing Perspectives: “The psychological impact of wars and conflicts on women can be significant, even devastating. Women who have been subjected to violations and violence in general suffer from a variety of psychological symptoms.”
Al-Suleim affirms that most people affected by war suffer from numerous problems such as feelings of sadness and despair, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, and agitation or anger. The prevalence of common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder has doubled, reaching mental disorders such as schizophrenia during the years of war.
Al-Suleim points out that female mental health patients also suffer from a lack of societal acceptance, ignorance about how to deal with their cases, and a shortage of health services and psychological support, which makes it difficult to obtain the necessary care, increasing the risk of resorting to suicide as a means of escape from the pain they suffer.
The counsellor warns against neglecting mental health, as it leads to an increase in mental illnesses among the population, which in turn affects physical health and makes patients more susceptible to health problems.
Al-Suleim explains that women are more prone to depression compared to men due to bearing greater family responsibilities than they can handle, such as providing for the family and raising children. Women are also more vulnerable to sexual and physical harassment and violence than their male counterparts. These pressures increase the susceptibility to moderate to severe symptoms of depression.
Mental health patients face a shortage of psychiatrists and treatment centers. The psychiatric hospital in Sarmada, northern Idlib, is the only specialised centre for treating acute mental cases and follow-up in northern Syria. The inpatient unit has a capacity of only 20 beds, and a patient’s stay may last for a maximum of three weeks due to overcrowding and the large number of patients.
Admission to the hospital is based on specific criteria for patients suffering from acute psychotic episodes, major depressive disorder with suicidal risk, bipolar disorder patients, and others. The outpatient clinic receives patients on a daily basis from 9 am to 2 pm. The clinic includes a psychiatrist, a pharmacy, and psychosocial support providers for non-pharmacological interventions.
The World Health Organization indicates that mental health care services in northwestern Syria remain extremely limited, “as they are only available in four health facilities, and there are only two psychiatrists serving 4.5 million people.”
According to the organisation’s estimates, nearly one million people suffer from some form of mental disorder, and 230,000 of them suffer from severe mental disorders.
Syrian women suffer the bitterness of life, especially with the ongoing war and exposure to all kinds of violations and oppression, whether from their families or a society that views them with inferiority and accountability without reason, in addition to experiencing the horrors of bombing and displacement, and the lack of anyone to help them overcome difficulties and crises, which has affected their physical and mental health.
If you or anyone you know requires confidential support and is based in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue.