Persistent Anxiety in Morality Police Detainees
A doctor from Roozbeh Hospital told the HamMihan newspaper that after the crackdown on the hijab issue intensified, the number of his patients has increased.
Recently, we have had visits from young women who have come to the clinic and emergency room of the hospital showing symptoms of anxiety. The first thing they mentioned was their encounter with the morality police. Either they had been warned, or they had been put in a van and taken to the Ministry of Interior. One of them had been held for two days.
I have a 40-year-old female client who was playing guitar in Vanak Square. The morality police arrested her. She said they made her walk around the street for three hours, saying that this was her punishment. Every time she recounts the incident, it is so painful for her that she suffers with each recollection.
Recently, I have repeatedly encountered young women experiencing PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, after their incidents. Some of my clients had been detained by the morality police six months or even five years ago, yet they still suffered from PTSD.
