Arabs and mental health | Middle East



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What if we asked the following two questions: How is the psychological health of Arab societies?
Does our mental health represent a catalyst for political, economic and cultural progress and the attempt to establish a site worthy of the history of Arab and Islamic civilization?
We always focus on materialism to put our problems and conflict politics on a second level. Of course, there is no doubt that natural resources and various material capacities are part of the elements of the strength of any state, in addition to this stability and not being involved in conflicts which deplete lives, energy and wealth are among the main causes of wealth accumulation, development and economic take-off in a world that recognizes only economic strength.
Change that the first wealth is man, which is society. No wealth outside of human investment makes sense. In the jargon of economists, real capital is man.
European modernity absorbed this central idea, and so it focused on the individual, his freedom and the supremacy of the mind. Modernity is enlightened to please the human being and free him from all pressures, constraints and symbolic restrictions. And as European societies have been advanced to absorb the values ​​of modernity and root them from one generation to the next, leading to the mastery of the modernist model, the psychological health of societies which have regulated their material values ​​less complex than our societies which have remained hesitant and incapable of producing a system of values ​​which frees them on the one hand, and preserves the elements of a capable identity. On the change, the coexistence, the enrichment of humanity, and engage in it with ease, creativity and creative openness on the other hand.
In other words: it is true that all societies today suffer from manifestations of poor mental health, and this is in part due to the nature of modern society, which is characterized by complexity, structure, instability and rapid movements, and the feeling that this leaves behind in terms of mystery, anxiety and monotony … But we believe that our societies Islamic Arabic suffers doubly from a psychological state of multiple problems and disorders . This is not a projected belief as much as we have based its adoption on what official statistics say in some Arab countries.
If we stop at a few figures, we find, among them, what the health statistics of the World Bank indicate that seven countries belonging to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa arrive at the top of the ten countries in the phenomenon of depression in women, as well as depression of both sexes, mania, schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorders and severe depression which causes an exacerbation of suicides, which results in the high rate of suicide in recent years.
More specifically, official statistics can be found in Tunisia saying that a quarter of the population suffers from depression, and associations in the Far Maghreb announce that nearly half of Moroccans suffer from psychological illnesses such as depression, persistent anxiety and schizophrenia. Along the same lines, the World Health Organization has recognized that over one million Libyans are in need of mental health care (the demographic size of the Libyan population is estimated at seven million). In Egypt, although its people are known for their tendency to humor and defy reality with mockery and laughter, figures indicate that a quarter of Egyptians suffer from some sort of mental disorder.
Why are we raising this topic?
It seems to us that the aspiration for development and social change does not correct the mental health of our societies so badly. Development and the dream of progress and development require willpower, ambition, positive energy and a stimulating and determined mind, and all of these needs cannot be met by those who do not enjoy the minimum level of sanity. .
If we take a closer look at the nature of the mental illnesses most prevalent in Arab societies, we will see that they fall into illnesses linked to causes linked to the past, such as schizophrenia and narcissistic personality disorders, where the Arab cultural model suffers from fragmentation, and happiness cannot be attributed, and on the other hand, we find What refers to a strained relationship with the future through illnesses of anxiety and depression, which are in their entirety the product of crises and economic hardship, as evidenced by the fact that the target age group more than others with constant anxiety and depression of varying degrees is that of young people concerned with building their future and ensuring economic stability, which in turn enables them to achieve personal happiness.
What is more dangerous than the severity of the deterioration of the mental health of the Arab person today is that the term “psychological” is not considered to be an illness that requires treatment and follow-up. Rather, publicizing the psychological problem is seen in Arab representations of mental illness as a scandal to its owner, and a stigma that will continue to haunt him even if he transcends it.
Of course, there is nothing shocking or surprising as we list the proportions of patients suffering from depression, schizophrenia and the like, as our societies have suffered politically and are suffering economically, and are still victims of ideological tensions over the path of change of socio-cultural value … Then we are confronted with the problem of the concept of causes and it is explained. What needs to be addressed and considered is that societies in this difficult and troubled psychological state do not bet on them in construction, nor do they possess the will to dream and act. This is not to say that there is no solution except after the restoration of the Arab psyche. Rather, it is about the correct political, economic and cultural courage doing its job in this tired psyche and sending the soul into it to want and then rise. The psychological manifestations of disability are indicators of political and economic failure.
The psychosocial dimension is very important, and societies, half and a quarter of which suffer from diseases that prevent creative action, will work, marry, give birth and live in deprivation, and all that will result will be incomplete and amputated.



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