"I see many people who have principles, who live their lives according to their principles to help their communities. These people process their trauma, maybe quicker or more effectively, because they have an outlet or a reason to grow. When people focus their efforts on building a better society and preventing past atrocities from reoccurring, they tend to respond better to treatment than those who live without these principles."
How did you start working with Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights?
I first met Mr. Salah Ahmed in 1993. At the time, Saddam Hussein was in power, and this was just after the Anfal Genocide. I am with Mr. Salah as my friend as my brother. Well, in 2003 Mr. Salah told me he wanted to introduce psychotherapy and trauma treatment to survivors of torture in Iraq. Back then, it was called the Kirkuk Center for Torture Victims. From that moment, I gave myself to his mission. As you know, today Jiyan Foundation is providing life-saving mental health and medical support to the survivors of human rights violations across the country. In this way, I see that Mr. Salah has accomplished much more than what he set out to do twenty years ago.
I, myself am a psychiatrist, and have been working with Jiyan Foundation since the beginning.
You started working for Jiyan Foundation when it was the Kirkuk Center for Torture Victims. You have seen it go from one center to now more than ten facilities. That’s a big leap in the size of the organization and the number of patients that you are seeing.
Yes, right. You know the story of chemical weapons, torture, and political violence; people commonly live with trauma. Through this, I’ve seen two things. Number one, I’ve been around long enough to see recurrent trauma, a collective and transgenerational trauma, when a group of people are exposed to the same homicide, torture or event. These events change the fabric of our society for generations to come.
Second, what’s important, in my experience, I see many people who have principles, who live their lives according to their principles to help their communities. These people process their trauma, maybe quicker or more effectively, because they have an outlet or a reason to grow. When people focus their efforts on building a better society and preventing past atrocities from reoccurring, they tend to respond better to treatment than those who live without these principles. This is of course, just my personal experience.
As a psychiatrist did the types of patients you see change over time?
In terms of the classification of the kinds of symptoms and mental disorders, yes absolutely. You know every ten or fifteen years we have changes and updates to the classifications or terminologies used in our work; this is all academic. However, the symptoms we see tend to repeat themselves. This is in part why experience as a psychiatrist or mental health professional is so important. When you have experience, when you are a good listener to the patient, you will pick up on things.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is very common with people in Iraq. Many people suffer from childhood trauma, sexual abuse, and violence that lasts their entire lives. I had one adult patient for example, who was suffering from instances of sexual abuse she experienced as a child. She had not spoken about these events for her entire life, and it just lived in her mind like a toxin.
So when you do get a patient, like the one you just described who was sexually abused, how do you how do you begin to address it with that person?
The patient is usually seeking help with many abnormal symptoms. I mean physical symptoms, and in this case, she is not focused on her mental health because she’s focusing on her physical pain. In many cases, these are psychosomatic symptoms, a physical distress caused by psychological trauma. In these cases, the patient is coming in for medical treatment, and she will see a medical doctor. After examining her, the doctor will refer the patient to me. Commonly, our patients at Jiyan Foundation meet with both medical and mental health professionals, and many of them come in seeking relief from physical symptoms.
When I meet with the patient, they will often describe their own anxiety in public spaces or other hints that point to a past occurrence. After a few sessions, the patient and I will begin to develop trust, and only then can we begin to talk about these past traumas.
Sometimes the trauma is so strong that the patient may require medication to help them function in their day-to-day life. These are the sorts of things I address as a psychiatrist.
The goal, of course, is to address these traumas so that the patient can lead a normal life without fear, anxiety, or the need for medication. It’s for this reason that Jiyan Foundation uses a holistic approach to recovery, It’s why our patients usually have sessions with physicians, psychotherapists, and a psychiatrist. We all work together on each individual to provide the best treatment we can.
What would you say is the most important lesson for people to take away from your experience working with Jiyan Foundation?
I’ve learned in my years that no one can heal alone. You cannot take a traumatized person away from their family and bring them somewhere alone. We must bring the whole community into the healing process. We must educate and include the community to support each other.
Second, we must have principles and goals to work toward. These principles for equality, justice, and human rights provide us with purpose. As humans, we are much more successful when we have family, community, and principles we can hold dear. I love Jiyan Foundation because we take these lessons to heart, and build our programs based on these things.