Persistent Anxiety in Morality Police Detainees
A doctor from Roozbeh Hospital told the Ham-Mihan newspaper that after the crackdown on the hijab issue intensified, her patients have increased.
Recently, we have had visits from young girls who came to the hospital’s clinic and emergency room with anxiety symptoms. The first thing they mentioned was their encounter with the morality police. They were either warned or taken in a van to the authorities. There was someone who was held for two days.
I have a 40-year-old female patient who was playing guitar in Vanak Square when the morality police arrested her. She said they made her walk around the streets for three hours, saying that this was her punishment. Every time she recounts this experience, it is so distressing for her that she suffers with each recollection.
Recently, I have encountered PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple times in young girls. Patients who were arrested by the morality police six months or sometimes five years ago still suffer from PTSD.