{"id":20951,"date":"2019-05-14T08:46:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T04:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/?p=20951"},"modified":"2019-05-14T08:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T04:47:43","slug":"the-hidden-face-of-mental-illness-in-the-middle-east-psychologist-fadwa-lkorchy-in-arab-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/the-hidden-face-of-mental-illness-in-the-middle-east-psychologist-fadwa-lkorchy-in-arab-news\/","title":{"rendered":"The hidden face of mental illness in the Middle East \u2013 Psychologist, Fadwa Lkorchy, in Arab News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mental-health campaigners in the Middle East say it is high time for teachers, parents and policymakers to encourage young people to open up about their feelings and break free from the shame surrounding discussion of psychological disorders.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning comes after two separate surveys highlighted the\nscale of suffering among the region\u2019s 200 million Arab youth due to depression,\nanxiety and addiction. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Arab Youth Survey 2019, released earlier this month by\nthe Dubai-based communications company Asda\u2019a BCW, showed mental illness to be\na widespread concern among young people in the Middle East and North Africa\n(MENA). And a recent YouGov poll conducted in the UAE pointed to the existence\nof a stigma around mental illness, with fewer than half of respondents saying\nthey would seek professional help if they were suffering from a psychological\ndisorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Arab population is plagued by issues that are no\ndifferent from any other population in the world: Depression, anxiety, eating\ndisorders, addiction, suicide, self-mutilation, post-traumatic disorders, mood\ndisorders and so on,\u201d Fadwa Lkorchy, a psychologist at the Dubai-based German\nNeuroscience Center, told Arab News. \u201cThe difference now is that the Arab world\nis willing to admit the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arab Youth Survey, which explored attitudes among Arab\nyouth in 15 countries and territories in MENA, found that one-third of them\nknew someone suffering from a mental disorder such as anxiety and depression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half of the respondents \u2014 Arab men and women aged 18 to 24 \u2014\nsaid there was a stigma attached to seeking medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are\nmost likely to be accepting of mental illness, according to the Arab Youth\nSurvey, with 62 percent saying it was a normal thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GCC youth identified personal relationships as the biggest\nsource of stress, followed closely by academic factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe young generations are more exposed than the older ones\nto what\u2019s going on around the world,\u201d said Lkorchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have higher expectations but not the same resilience,\nwhich may result in feelings of inadequacy in matters of education, career and\nlifestyle,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow is the right time to talk about mental illness, to help people deal with daily challenges and develop skills to improve their mental wellbeing.\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lkorchy said the polls\u2019 findings point to at least two things: Young people should not delay seeking medical care for underlying psychiatric disorders, and medical professionals need to provide better and a wider range of platforms for young people to discuss mental-health issues or receive treatment. \u201cThe mental-health statistics aren\u2019t surprising. We\u2019ve seen for decades the neglect of mental health and focus solely on physical health,\u201d she added. \u201cThe new generations, with help from social media, are more open and willing to seek help.\u201d […]\n\n\n\n

The full original article was published in Arab News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mental-health campaigners in the Middle East say it is high time for teachers, parents and policymakers to encourage young people to open up about their feelings and break free from the shame surrounding discussion of psychological disorders. The warning comes after two separate surveys highlighted the scale of suffering among the region\u2019s 200 million Arab<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20951","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\/20951","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=20951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}