Working with family conflicts can be a challenging task for counsellors. In a collectivist society, such as Afghanistan, where interactions between people of the opposite sex are highly regulated, counselling sessions with an individual involved in a family conflict may not be very effective unless conducted in a culturally sensitive manner. As asking for help from professionals may be considered to be ‘lunatic’, as well as a potential threat to the honour of the family, family counselling is not often easy to carry out and may actually pose risks to the client and to the counsellor.

Drug addiction is a problem in many countries, affecting many lives, damaging the addicted individual and affecting their families and communities. In underdeveloped countries, such as Afghanistan, there are often no appropriate systems for rehabilitating drug addicted people. Most hospitals tend to use detoxification as the main treatment programme, and there remains a large gap between demand and treatment services. In this case study, the author discusses the possibilities for dealing with the various causes of substance abuse and recommends solutions.

This short case history describes the counselling process with an adolescent girl in Afghanistan. It illustrates the lack of sexual education for children and adolescents in Afghan society and reaffirms that listening is the most important part of counselling. Listening includes showing that you believe the client, being careful with questions and giving the client the feeling that she does not have to justify herself.

In Afghanistan, most families strongly believe that their female members should stay at home concern themselves with housework. In general, women are anything but encouraged to get an education and/or have a professional career. This personal reflection shows that Afghani women, with support, can develop their competences and enjoy life.