Impact of psychological disorders after female genital mutilation among Kurdish girls in northern Iraq
Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraq has been brought to public attention by several human rights organisations since 2003. This study investigates the mental health status of young girls after genital mutilation in Northern Iraq. The author assumes that FGM is connected with a high rate of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD).
The results indicate that:
- FGM is likely to cause various emotional disturbances, forging the way to psychiatric disorders.
- in this context, the circumcised girls show a significantly higher prevalence of PTSD (44.3%), depression disorder (33.6%), anxiety disorder (45.6%) and somatic disturbance (36.7%) than uncircumcised girls.
- symptoms of depression, psychosomatic conditions and sleep disturbances are found to be above normal levels.
- FGM constitutes a part of the participants’ ethnic background, yet cultural embedment does not protect against the development of PTSD.
The paper concludes that the alarmingly high rates of psychiatric disturbances among circumcised girls show that researchers as well as clinicians have an obligation to pay more attention on the urgent needs of these girls.
However, the author notes that the long-term psychosocial and political stresses of the Saddam era may have left traces which still remain. Thus, for this reason among others, some caution is warranted in interpreting the study’s results.
