Counseling in The Kyrgyz Republic Elena Molchanova, Elena Kosterina, Elena Kim, Sharon G. Horne, Kanykei Latipova, and Patrick Marius Koga 12 107 Rapid growth in the development of counseling services in the Kyrgyz Republic seems to be an outcome of the latest transformations and violent conficts in the country. Central Asia has often been considered to be one of the least stable places of the former Soviet Union, both politically and economically (Abashin, 2007). The totalitarian regime of the Soviet era did not allow for any open expression of interethnic confict (Tishkov, 1991) in the “stans” (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). The situ- ation changed dramatically after the collapse of the Soviet Union with the resurgence of ethnic identities and the repositioning of leadership in the former Soviet states, all shaped by the interests of political and economic elites of local ethnic communities and tribes. At the end of the 20th century there were several interethnic conficts in Central Asia. The be- ginning of the 21st century brought further confict: the Tulip Revolution of 2005 followed by anti-Russian actions in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic; the 2006–2007 anti-Caucasus movements of Kazakhs in Aktau, Kazakhstan; ongoing mass unrest in Tajikistan; and the April Revolu- tion and the Osh massacre of 2010 in the Kyrgyz Republic. The multidimensional consequences of interethnic tensions, violence, and mass panic have had not only political, economic, and health costs but also mental health repercus- sions (Molchanova, Panteleeva, Popkov, & Nelubova, 2011). High suicide rates among the most vulnerable of citizens, including children and teenagers, are also among the con- sequences. In addition, psychological services have had to evolve to meet mental health needs resulting from maltreatment at the hands of authorities such as law enforcement agencies, who illegally practice torture in order to extract confessions from criminal sus- pects (Latipova, 2009). Among those particularly impacted by torture in the country are indigent migrants and members of ethnic and/or religious groups. The magnitude of mental health problems is not matched by the quality or the amount of mental health services in Central Asia in general or in the Kyrgyz Republic in particular. The common barriers to access to services (e.g., social stigma, a limited number of special- ists found primarily in urban areas, costly transportation that limits treatment options for rural individuals, underfunding, and lack of acknowledgment of mental health problems by local governments) are further exacerbated by culturally biased attitudes toward peo-