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Break Taboos on Mental Disorder, Urge Experts

DUBAI — Up to 50 per cent of people visiting primary healthcare centres in the UAE have some form of psychiatric disorders, say experts adding that these figures are just a tip of the iceberg.

The number, they say is consistent with other developing countries such as Chile, Kuwait and Jordan but the stigma and prejudice attached to mental disorders in the Arab world prevents timely treatment.

In the prelude to the World Mental Health Day on October 10, experts convened at Rashid Hospital for the first Dubai Mental Health Nursing Conference on Tuesday and called upon people to break taboos.

Akram Al Ahmed, Nursing Supervisor at Rashid Hospital quoting a number of studies in the UAE said that approximately 18-53 per cent of the people visiting the centres have one or the other form of psychiatric illness with depression being the most prevalent.

“This number is equal to that of other developing countries but interestingly up to 86 per cent of such cases are undetected in the centres,” he said while presenting a talk on “Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in primary 
healthcare.”

Several cases are also seen by general practitioners and go unreported. “A bulk of patients is seen by their private doctors so no accurate statistics are available in the UAE,” said Dr Amal Al Halyan, Specialist Registrar Psychology at Rashid Hospital.

“Depression and anxiety are most common cases here. It is important that people come for early treatment,” said Dr Al Halyan who along with Paula Keenan, Project Manager for Community Mental Health at the hospital is running a week long campaign to raise awareness on the issues.

In his talk, Al Ahmed blamed genetic factors for making women more prone to psychiatric illnesses than men. According to a study published in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine in 2008, 33 per cent of women visiting primary healthcare centres in Sharjah were found to be suffering from moderate or severe depression.

Reasons such as age, marital status, employment, financial status, education and levels of satisfaction with life could also lead to psychiatric illnesses, said Al Ahmed. “Only in Kuwait, youngsters were found to have more mental illnesses than the elderly,” he added.

Dr Mohammad Fayek, head of psychiatric department at Rashid Hospital said, “The problem of stigma related to mental health is not restricted to the UAE, it is a problem facing all countries and the most important way to eliminate this is through public campaigns.”

“Private hospitals in the country do not have even a single bed space for the mentally ill, so the best solution 
is to use the primary healthcare 
settings to the maximum,” said Al Ahmed. Currently, mentally ill patients are either housed in Rashid or Al Amal Psychiatric hospitals.

Scarcity of trained mental health medical staff is another issue that bogs the UAE. With only 40 trained psychiatrists and counsellors in Dubai, experts feel that primary healthcare centres can share the load since they offer cheaper and effective treatment.

The Ministry of Health has already launched primary healthcare pilot project aimed at cutting costs and assessing the mental health system in 
the country.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.ae