Mental Health Awareness in the Muslim Communities and the Middle East

Mental health concerns continue to be a barrier for individuals affected with severe mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, personality disorder, bipolar disorder, OCD, and more.

 The negative image and stigma attached to mental illness can influence the affected individuals to conceal their mental health concerns for fear of being labeled or discriminate against, especially in the Muslim communities and Muslim countries. Despite the rapid improvement of Mental Health treatments globally, many individuals choose to suffer in silence instead of seeking proper therapy sessions.

 In the observance of mental health awareness month, I interviewed several strangers to ask them about the stigma attached to mental health awareness in the Muslim community and what we can do to dissipate this stigma for the betterment of the affected individuals who suffer from numerous mental health concerns.

Here are the following questions we asked Muslim individuals in Muslim countries globally.

1. What is your opinion on mental health awareness in the Muslim Community (Muslim countries)?

2. Do you believe there is enough Mental Health Awareness in the Middle East? If no, what is the solution to change it?

3. Is Mental Health Awareness Normalised amongst Muslim communities? Why? Or why not?

Here are the answers we got: to remain anonymous to respect the interviewee's identity, thoughts, and privacy.

Response #1

"I feel like the Muslim community goes back and forth like a pendulum between two extremes, in all cases. Including mental health: Either they oversimplify the situation at hand and call it a person's lack of faith, or they completely detach the issue from religion altogether. Both extremes are detrimental to a society's mental health collectively because a) people accept their mental health issues as something that comes from a lack of their faith, and hence they believe only they can correct that or b) they keep it to themselves and worsen the situation because therapy is considered a taboo since people feel ashamed to admit that they may have some sort of mental health issue."

Response #2

"Islam has emphasized time, and again that going through difficulties is a part of life. It never said that only those who lack faith should go through it. But religion does help because a person who feels lost has a much higher chance of finding his way back onto a better mental state if he knows that a compassionate God is looking over him as opposed to a person who feels despair from all angles."

Response #3

"Certainly not! It can do with a little bit more awareness. Although as times are changing and western practices and ideas are being adopted more actively by the youth, there does seem to be hope for the coming generations. They will be much more open to discussing these problems than the current generation. At least that's what I hope for. The change is slow, but it is there. A few things that might help bring more awareness would be: 1) Creating pages, accounts, discussion forums, and online groups in the local language to encourage and normalize these topics. 2). Encouraging kids in classrooms to be more expressive of their emotions instead of shutting them down by distracting them or only soothing them. 3) Educating people and parents on the importance of mental health and making them realize that it's an ailment like any other and to treat it as such. 4. Making therapy more readily available and less expensive so it's affordable for all classes of society."

Response #4

"It's not normalized due to the fear of being considered 'abnormal.' People believe, generally, that all mental illnesses arise due to a lack of faith. They believe everything a person feels and thinks is a representation of his level of faith. Although that might be true to some extent in certain cases, they fail to understand that mental health problems are just as real as any other health problem that a human may have. It was never normalized in the previous generations due to a lack of knowledge. Now, knowledge is available, but people are not ready to accept it as a treatable problem. But slowly, we are seeing many people come forth and be open about these topics, and I see a bright future for us!"

Response #5

"I think mental health is not taken seriously enough in Muslim communities/countries, it's an issue that requires empathetic but thorough examination."

Response #6

"I believe there is enough mental health awareness in the Muslim community globally, I'd suggest we keep up with the psychological research that is being done in the west and should begin research into our own communities."

Response #7

"Mental health awareness needs to be more normalized in our communities, one of the biggest threats to the normalization is superstition, especially amongst the elder generations."

Response #8

"I may sound bias with this, but I think Muslim countries are not that aware of mental health (in my opinion) since some contradict the idea of mental disorders such as depression and define it as someone who lacks faith."

Response #9

"Mental health is not YET normalized in Muslim communities since traditions are stronger and remain strong within certain communities. thus, mental health remains unknown to some people."

Response #10

"Honestly, I feel like there isn't much awareness in terms of how the Western world talks about mental health. Words like "depression" and "anxiety" are taboo to even whisper, and there's massive stigma surrounding talking about your mental health.

Response #11

But, physical signs and symptoms are taken far more seriously. If I'm losing weight and looking pale as a result of my depression, family members are immediately supportive, asking how they can help or if I need to talk to them about "what is weighing down on my heart/chest." Ask for support, and you get it (unless you're a man, then apparently you're supposed to be made of steel), but talk about depression or the many other complex disorders (I suffer from Dissociative Amnesia and Depersonalisation and Derealisation Disorder; DPDR) and they'll probably call a mental hospital to get you hospitalized (even if I'm otherwise functioning fine and in no danger). AKA, it sucks big time."

Response #12

"Absolutely not. It's very hush hush here, and talking about depression (at least for me growing up in the middle east) is seen as attention-seeking. At worst, you'll be disowned or just sent to a mental health "hospital." The tides are changing, but we have a long way to go. The "solution" is 2-fold: creation of more therapeutic facilities aimed at supporting those who need it and the destigmatization of mental illness/disorder by talking about it as normal rather than abnormal. Also, mental disorders shouldn't be treated in the same vein as medical disorders. Psychiatry gives the illusion that mental disorders can be "cured," but that's not true. Many disorders cannot be treated completely by medicine, but many can be somewhat managed with medicine. When I say that mental disorders need to be seen as "normal," I meant that we need to see humans as humans and support them instead of seeing them as "diseased" or as customers for the next "cure" to their disorder."

Response #13

"In my experience, it isn't. Definitely, the younger generation is much more aware, and we are the loudest, but much of our communities are dominated by boomers whose ideologies rule simply because they're the elders. And their ideology is that mental health awareness doesn't exist or isn't important. I've heard many reactions to my diagnosis of clinical depression: from pure disbelief to blaming me for not "believing in Allah" enough, to saying I simply do not have enough faith, to calling me spoiled for even trying to say that I'm not well. But many people my age understand that mental health is important; we just don't have the resources to get the support we need (unless you're privileged and have loads of money). It may be normalized in the next decade, but not as of now."

Response #14

"Mental health Awareness among Muslim communities has always been next to none. There have been private organizations and some government initiatives, but they failed to make any significant impact of the ever-worsening situation of mental health. Few of the primary causes are lack of funding, belief system, lower quality of real-time patients data, proper and better awareness and health care in general."

Response #15

"The middle eastern countries, just like other Muslim countries, do not have sufficient mental health awareness. In the first phase, governments should take initiatives and lead the other organizations by example. Organizations should be funded and encouraged to work in this department by making necessary laws to facilitate them. In the third phase, religion and mental health should be treated as two separate things, this can not be achieved without the help of clerics and religious figures."

Response #16

"Mental health awareness is not normalized among Muslim countries, and major reasons for that are lack of awareness of masses about mental health and secondly religion. Its been long believed that mental illnesses are curses, supernatural phenomenon, and religious issues. Mental illness is believed to be treated by prayers which can be counterproductive and can have terrible consequences for the patients and the society.

People need to be taught that mental health should be treated just like any other illness, and the cure can only be administered by registered health professionals."