Mental health consequences of bride kidnapping in the Kyrgyz republic

Abstract

The consequences of gender-based violence (GBV) in the Kyrgyz Republic have often remained outside of both police officers’ and mental health care specialists’ attention. Statistical data on gender-based violence in the Kyrgyz Republic are underestimated, given that the majority of victims prefer not to seek help at all. One of the types of GBV in the Kyrgyz Republic is bride kidnapping, which is still very popular in rural areas of the state. Brides, that were kidnapped, present common behaviors and symptoms, such as an submissiveness, idealization of a husband, numbing, permanent desire to please a mother-in-law and other relatives of higher status in the family. Problems with the urogenital system, such as signs of urethritis and cystitis, vaginal itching, menstrual irregularities are also very common among daughters-in-law who were brutally kidnapped and had been experiencing violence from members of their families. Authors present an algorithm of dealing with the problem, which has been already implemented as a pilot project in one of the regions of the state.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.