{"id":15329,"date":"2014-11-06T07:50:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T07:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/?p=15329"},"modified":"2014-11-06T08:11:52","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T08:11:52","slug":"mental-health-act-needed-uae-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/mental-health-act-needed-uae-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Act needed in the UAE – The National"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mental<\/a>A Mental Health Act is needed in the UAE and psychiatric treatment \u2018should be under insurance\u2019 -2 3 Oct 2014, The National – Anam Rizvi and Jennifer Bell arizvi2@thenational.ae jbell@thenational.ae <\/em><\/p>\n

The UAE needs legislation and stronger regulation to provide adequate support and care for those suffering from psychological disorders, specialists say. Dr Yousef Allaban, medical director of the American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology, called for legislation like the UK\u2019s Mental Health Act to protect patients, and for treatment to be covered. \u201cIt is well overdue,\u201d Dr Allaban said. \u201cAnd the fact that insurance companies do not cover mental health is a huge problem.\u201d Great advances have been made in the treatment \u2013 both medical and social \u2013 of those suffering from psychological disorders, experts say in the fifth and final special report by The National on the future of health care. But there is still so far to go in providing adequate care, support and protection for the rights of those with conditions such as depression and schizophrenia.<\/p>\n

Deema Sihweil, clinical director and psychologist at Dubai\u2019s Carbone Clinic, said loopholes in laws were allowing unqualified therapists to practise, putting those with psychological disorders at risk. Dr Sihweil said she had heard of many unqualified people calling themselves psychologists and practising in fields such as consultancy or life-coaching. \u201cThis is extremely dangerous. People trust their doctors and many people can be harmed,\u201d she said. All tend to agree that one of the most pressing needs is for more health services and qualified, licensed practitioners. The UAE should pass a mental health act and treatment for psychological disorders should be covered by health insurance, doctors say. Dr Yousef Allaban, medical director at American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology, said the country would benefit from legislation similar to the Mental Health Act in the UK, which is a code of practice to protect those with mental disorders. \u201cA mental health act is long overdue,\u201d Dr Allaban said. There was also a lack of resources and research, while all insurance plans should include mental health, he added. \u201cThe fact that insurance companies do not cover mental health is a huge problem,\u201d Dr Allaban said.<\/p>\n

Jared Alden, a psychotherapist at the German Neuroscience Centre in Dubai, agreed. While some schemes may offer mental-health cover, it was ad hoc rather than a uniform rule, said Mr Alden. More awareness about mental health was still needed, even among the medical community, said Dr Allaban. \u201cMany doctors don\u2019t know what the biological basis for a psychological problem is or when to refer a patient to a psychiatrist,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, it is a known fact that 35 to 50 per cent of people who have diabetes suffer from depression at some point. \u201cIf one looks at the numbers in this part of the world, it is seen that only a fraction of these people receive treatment.\u201d Other barriers to treating mental health also needed addressing, he said. \u201cThere are problems at the regulatory level too,\u201d Dr Allaban said. \u201cPsychologists are classified as clinical psychologists and there are no categories for a neuropsychologist, child psychologist or education psychologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when people apply there are no categories or classifications. \u201cThe medical community needs to be made aware of the importance of mental health. If doctors need to attend at least a certain number of workshops or conferences on mental health they will take psychological health care and problems seriously. \u201cAlso, a couple of months of training on mental health should be made part of residency programmes so that people know how to deal with these problems. \u201cInvesting in research on mental health will also help to create awareness about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A Mental Health Act is needed in the UAE and psychiatric treatment \u2018should be under insurance\u2019 -2 3 Oct 2014, The National – Anam Rizvi and Jennifer Bell arizvi2@thenational.ae jbell@thenational.ae The UAE needs legislation and stronger regulation to provide adequate support and care for those suffering from psychological disorders, specialists say. Dr Yousef Allaban, medical<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}