the traumas of war remain stubborn

Mayada and “the fear of heights”

Mayada Mohamad was ten years old when the popular revolt broke out in 2011 which put an end to Muammar Gadhafi’s regime. Two years ago she dropped out of school and rarely leaves her home “for fear of heights”. “As soon as I go out, my heart starts to beat, I feel dizzy and feel like I’m falling”, tells AFP the 20-year-old girl, tracksuit and hair tied in a bun. His brothers, aged 14 and 12, “have known only wars and the terrifying sound of rockets passing over our house” near the airport, on the outskirts of Tripoli, the scene of bloody clashes. “Children are the silent and invisible victims of this evil”, she breathes.

“The imminent danger of death”

With the proliferation of weapons and armed groups, it is common to see young boys simulating fights with toys, pistols, machine guns and other assault rifles, and “it does not shock anyone”, deplores Ali Miladi, 44, an English teacher in Tripoli. For him, without professional support, these “Left behind in a society where psychic and mental disorders remain taboo, drift away. In the best cases, they find their own way forward.” Having himself fought in Misrata, a city besieged and bombed by pro-Gaddafi in 2011, he remains “haunted by the imminent danger of death”, in a precarious security context “not helping to rebuild”.

“Post-traumatic syndrome”

Despite a ceasefire concluded in October 2020 by the rival camps, security remains precarious with sporadic violence that threatens the relative calm that has been restored. If this security precariousness persists, coupled with a feeling of imminent war, “the post-traumatic syndrome does not exist”, points out the psychologist, Malak Ben-Giaber.

“Where is the end of the trauma? Is it when a peace accord is signed? When the guns fall silent? When there is a temporary truce like the one we are experiencing?”

Malak Ben-Giaber, psychologist

to AFP

“We are going through difficult times and some of these experiences can still be traumatic”, says this psychologist. The health sector, like other services, has suffered from the conflict and mental health has been relegated to the background of public health care, especially far from large cities. “Mental health services are lacking in Libya and not easily accessible or affordable”, regrets Malak Ben-Giaber.

Acceptance and fear of stigma

In Tripoli, al-Razi hospital is the only public establishment with a psychiatric service accessible to the west and south of the country. Patients have to travel hundreds of kilometers to refill a prescription or see a specialist. With social pressure and the taboo surrounding mental health statistics are scarce but a recent report from the World Health Organization (link in English), indicates that one in seven Libyans would need psychological support. With the proliferation of satellite channels and social networks, “there is a lot more acceptance” psychological disorders, believes Ms.Ben-Giaber who notes that “people are now talking openly about their discomfort.” Terms like “depression” and “anxiety” are used more and more, but we still hesitate to go to a psychiatric establishment for fear of being stigmatized.

“Pandora’s box”

Nisreen Adham, a banker converted into holistic therapy (which takes into account the whole of the human being), left Libya in 2014, at the height of clashes which ended in the fall of Tripoli in the hands of militias. “It took me two years before I could really begin to examine the trauma I had suffered”, tells this forty-something, now living in the United Kingdom, contacted from Tripoli.

“Libya, where these problems are compounded by the fact that it is still a conflict or post-conflict zone, is not the ideal place to tackle mental health problems.”

Nisreen Adham, therapist

to AFP

Therapy and his professional retraining gave him “the basics necessary to start the healing process”. For Nisreen Adham, it is necessary “a safe, stable and favorable environment” for “unwrap our trauma and have the courage to open Pandora’s box”.