Psyche, Science, and Society

Iraqi Kurdish women attempting suicide at alarming rate

December 30th, 2007

In the Kurdish north, the peaceful corner of Iraq, rapid social change is pushing increasing numbers of women to suicide, the Dallas Morning News reports. Since the war, one women a day sets herself alight.

Alas, the article doesn’t really give an explanation for this epidemic of female suicide. There are hints about rapid change, poverty and family tensions. But no insight is provided as to how these are combining to cause the rash of suicides:

Northern Iraqi women increasingly attempting suicide

by Cheryl Diaz Meyer

ERBIL, Iraq – Iman Eaziden Bakr raised her chin, her eyes glistening in the dim light.

“I thought, ‘This is my death,’ ” she said. “I felt like a chicken being roasted. I will never forget the torture of my skin. It was so painful, as if my insides were being exposed.”

Her tea had long gone cold as she recounted Jan. 14, the day she poured kerosene on her body and set herself on fire.

Despite the economic boom in Iraqi Kurdistan, Ms. Bakr and her family are among the majority of Kurds who live in poverty. Eight people live together in one room.

“I started feeling hopeless about life, and I couldn’t bear their fighting anymore,” she said. “So I sacrificed myself for my family. But it was useless.”

When she returned home from the hospital, it was worse.

As new social and economic pressures collide with old traditions in the newly prosperous region of northern Iraq, Kurdish women still exert little control over their lives, health experts say. They struggle to describe a mental malaise that women and girls experience in the patriarchal culture, where women see little hope for their future and find themselves driven to kill themselves at unprecedented levels.

Since 2003, an average of one female sets herself on fire each day in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Khasro Omar, head nurse of the Emergency Management Centre in Erbil. The center is the premier hospital for burn patients in the area.

Ms. Bakr, 17, said she was diagnosed with depression. But her mother refused to buy the prescribed medicine, fearful that people would think their family was crazy.

“Anyone could see that I was not normal,” she said. “I heard voices telling me to kill myself, but my mother thought I was just being melodramatic.”

Most of the women and girls say they immolated themselves because of unresolved problems with their families. Some had issues in their marriages, while others alleged they were burned by accident as they worked in the kitchen, their long dresses a danger near the flames.

For many of these women, ordinary problems seem magnified. That was the case for 19-year-old Qumri Kaifi.

“I was washing the floor, and my sister kept walking over it, making me upset,” she said. After months of strife between her and her new stepmother, this was the final straw. She went into the kitchen and set herself on fire with her 10-year-old sister watching.

Those who survive suffer estrangement from their families and society. Married women who cannot work because of their injuries are often divorced by their husbands. No organizations in the region have long-term programs to help these women.

In the far end of the Erbil ward lies Aveen Bayz, 13, her brow furrowed in pain and her eyes dark and woeful. She resembles a mummy, almost completely covered in gauze to protect her burns, which cover 70 percent of her skin.

Ms. Bayz said she immolated herself because her younger sister was jealous of her and harassed her for not doing the house chores correctly. She has survived eight days after immolating herself. Even the staff won’t venture to guess if she will live or die.

Nearby, her anguished mother wipes away tears.

“I would do anything for my daughter, if only she’d stay alive,” said Sameera Mohammad. “I wish to hear her voice every morning.”

Nine months have passed since Ms. Bakr’s attempt to kill herself. She still emanates the acrid smell of burned skin, and her scars itch as they crack open and heal.

“I do feel that they love me,” Ms. Bakr said of her family. “But even if I wasn’t making good choices – why didn’t they stop me? I don’t understand their love.”

She still sees little promise for the future.

“I gradually feel myself becoming hopeless again,” she said. “So, I probably will one day succeed in killing myself.”

Entry Filed under: Iraq, Mental Health, Psychiatry