Specialists to solve problem with shortage of mental health services in Northern Caucasus

The Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre launched a training project for psychologists and employees of NCOs helping residents of Northern Caucasus survive psychological injuries. Specialists of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre pointed out the insufficient level of mental health services in the region, which residents suffered from wars, terror acts, and human rights violations.

The project will be completed in December, with the participation of the German Association of Psychosocial Centres for Refugees and Victims of Torture (BAfF).

Unresolved psychological injury affects the level of tension in society as a whole, notes Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, the director of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre. The above applies to Chechnya, which survived two wars, and Ingushetia and North Ossetia, where a terror act was committed in Beslan.

In Northern Caucasus, wars, terror acts, and gross violations of human rights have injured entire generations, claims psychologist Natalia Nesterenko, a project coordinator. The problem is not only a lack of specialists, but also in a lack of people's confidence in them, Natalia Nesterenko emphasizes.

The expert suggests that there is no particular Caucasian depression. Residents of Northern Caucasus suffer from a loss of the meaning in life, and they have to struggle with feelings of guilt and loneliness.

According to Vladimir Mikhailov, a member of the Association of Understanding Psychotherapy, the specific feature of Northern Caucasus is a high proportion of mental disorders associated with external factors.