One in five children in Afghanistan suffers from psychiatric disorders unrelated to the military turmoil engulfing the country, a major new study has shown.
The first large-scale survey of Afghan children's mental health showed that day-to-day violence and stress are as much the cause of trauma as the war-related brutalities they are frequently exposed to.
Durham University held interviews with 1,000 children in partnership with scientists in Pakistan and Afghanistan and discovered that one in ten identified accidents, being beaten or medical treatment as their most traumatic experiences
In comparison, only a handful could trace their mental disorders to war injuries.
Publishing their findings in the Lancet, researchers said that children were found to suffer from a range of disorders, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the latter of which is commonly found in soldiers returning from a war zone.
One girl, aged 16, told researchers she had seen the beheaded body of her grandfather and also lost her father in a rocket attack, said her most traumatic experience was an operation to remove a lump in her right breast which meant she missed her final school exams and 'lost everything' in her own words.
Study leader Professor Catherine Panter-Brick commented: 'Huge numbers of children live in families where the father is struggling to make ends meet and many relatives are squeezed into inadequate housing. Many children have to work before and after school to help put food on the table. They walk long distances to school, have overcrowded classes, and can't do homework at night because there is no electricity. The war-related suffering comes on top of all that.'
She is calling for mental health programmes already proven successful in Pakistan, West Bank and Gaza to be rolled out in Afghanistan as well as pay rises for teachers and more textbooks.
Prof Panter-Brick added: 'What is remarkable are the high aspirations and the determination children show, despite great poverty and day-to-day hardship. Their hopes are high, and based on sheer effort and perseverance. They see hard work and education as the key to success. In that sense, children think about the future, not so much about the past.
'We found that children reported great distress and hardship in their lives. But they also had remarkable strength to function, to get on with their lives, to help their families, and to work and study.
'Their distress is focused on frustrations associated with poverty, which lead to violence in the family and the community. We would recommend that mental health interventions include efforts to stop persistent violence and lessen day-to-day stressors, rather than focus just on trauma related to war.'
Today's research also revealed eight out of ten children had faced displacement due to internal conflict, while one in ten had lost at least one parent.
Yesterday Afghans went to the polls to elect a president for only the second time. Results are not expected until late next month.
The first large-scale survey of Afghan children's mental health showed that day-to-day violence and stress are as much the cause of trauma as the war-related brutalities they are frequently exposed to.
Durham University held interviews with 1,000 children in partnership with scientists in Pakistan and Afghanistan and discovered that one in ten identified accidents, being beaten or medical treatment as their most traumatic experiences
In comparison, only a handful could trace their mental disorders to war injuries.
Publishing their findings in the Lancet, researchers said that children were found to suffer from a range of disorders, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the latter of which is commonly found in soldiers returning from a war zone.
One girl, aged 16, told researchers she had seen the beheaded body of her grandfather and also lost her father in a rocket attack, said her most traumatic experience was an operation to remove a lump in her right breast which meant she missed her final school exams and 'lost everything' in her own words.
Study leader Professor Catherine Panter-Brick commented: 'Huge numbers of children live in families where the father is struggling to make ends meet and many relatives are squeezed into inadequate housing. Many children have to work before and after school to help put food on the table. They walk long distances to school, have overcrowded classes, and can't do homework at night because there is no electricity. The war-related suffering comes on top of all that.'
She is calling for mental health programmes already proven successful in Pakistan, West Bank and Gaza to be rolled out in Afghanistan as well as pay rises for teachers and more textbooks.
Prof Panter-Brick added: 'What is remarkable are the high aspirations and the determination children show, despite great poverty and day-to-day hardship. Their hopes are high, and based on sheer effort and perseverance. They see hard work and education as the key to success. In that sense, children think about the future, not so much about the past.
'We found that children reported great distress and hardship in their lives. But they also had remarkable strength to function, to get on with their lives, to help their families, and to work and study.
'Their distress is focused on frustrations associated with poverty, which lead to violence in the family and the community. We would recommend that mental health interventions include efforts to stop persistent violence and lessen day-to-day stressors, rather than focus just on trauma related to war.'
Today's research also revealed eight out of ten children had faced displacement due to internal conflict, while one in ten had lost at least one parent.
Yesterday Afghans went to the polls to elect a president for only the second time. Results are not expected until late next month.
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