Post-Conflict Recovery and Rehabilitation: An Alternative Psycho-Social Approach

The prolonged exposure to violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa challenges the mental health of its population more than any other provinces in the country (Khan et al, 2018) found that 75% children suffered from PTSD after Army Public School Massacre, while 23% people of KP suffered from PTSD due to terrorism in 2013. The estimated population that suffered from war on terror from 2005 till 2022, including death toll and injuries, are reported as 46,028 civilians and security forces personnel from KP and newly merged tribal districts, while total number of terrorism related incidents are reported as 13,035 (South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2023). On the other hand, Pakistan has less than 500 psychiatrists for 249 million people, leaving behind more than 90% population untreated (Sehat Kahani, 2022). There is a lack of trained psychiatrist as consultants in the country, hence, no training could be conducted in specialized fields like forensic psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, child psychiatry, learning disability, psychotherapy, and drug and alcohol abuse. Counseling, along with an eclectic approach, is mostly used by psychologists due to a lack of training in psychotherapies. Trained clinical psychologists could be utilized in the improvement of counseling and psychotherapy. Due to the dearth of specialists, the family in Pakistan is an important resource for looking after the patients. To improve patient care, families could be utilized and considered an important resource (WHO-AIMS Report, 2009), which is the point of debate as alternative psycho-social approach for post-conflict recovery and rehabilitation.