
Research view
Title: | EMDR-based mental health services for the Arab spring |
Author: | Walid Abdul-Hamid, Jamel Turkey and Jamie Hacker Hughes |
Abstract: |
Introduction
Norris et al. (2004) suggested that trauma is much more
common in developing countries than in the developed
world, where more of the resources to treat trauma are
available. Trauma in developing countries is more
challenging to treat and more difficult to study. Most
trauma treatment and research resources are in Europe,
which constitutes only 7% of the world population. It is a
well-known fact that the psychological impact of trauma
outweighs the physical impact by an estimated 4 : 1 ratio
(Everly et al., 2010). The psychological impact of natural
and man-made disasters can be overwhelming for
individuals, their families and communities.
Since the Arab spring, we have discovered the extent of
oppression and torture that the fallen regimes practiced
on their people and this oppression must have clearly
created many psychiatric problems in the population
(Filiu, 2011). It is important for the new democratic
governments in the Arab world to deal with the aftermath
of the previous totalitarian regimes including mental
illness. This needs to be undertaken in a way that makes
the psychiatric services community oriented, more
acceptable to the local populations and more responsive
to their needs (Ben-Tovim, 1987).
Psychiatric disorders are associated with very severe stigma in
the Arab world (Sartorius and Schulze, 2005). This increased
in the colonial period owing to the mental hospitals that were
built and which replaced the small and less stigmatizing
community-oriented Muslim medieval hospitals (Maristanes)
that operated in keeping with the principles of
Islamic Medicine (Keller, 2007). This stigma was also
increased owing to Arab cinema, which portrayed these
mental hospitals and their patients in a very demeaning way.
The emphasis in the new Arab psychiatric services should
be on the treatment of the consequences of oppression. It
should also incorporate traditional concepts of mental ill
health and traditional treatments used (Pirajno, 1955).
Mental health services need to be named and shaped to
serve this function so that they will be acceptable for the
population to use (Ben-Tovim, 1987). We suggest that
mental health services centres are established under the
name of ‘Centres for the Care of Victims of Torture and
Political Violence’. These services will work in parallel
with and complement the already present psychiatric
hospital services and will work gradually to replace them
with less stigmatizing and more community-oriented
services. The new services should have a strong trauma
treatment element in addition to traditional elements
such as general psychiatry, child psychiatry and substance
abuse psychiatry (Hien et al., 2004). We recommend that
a centre is established in each major city and extended
and expanded upon as demand increases for the service.
Initially, the service should operate during office hours
and then the need and feasibility of a community duty
system in liaison with the psychiatric hospitals should be
established at a later date.
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Journal: | Egyptian Journal of Psychiatry 2013, 34:143–147 |
Text: | |
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