Hello
My name is Lea Saab and I am a senior biology major on the
pre-medical track at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I was born and raised in Lebanon, and I have experienced the stigma on mental health myself.
Following the tragic incident, I would like to bring awareness to
mental health and lessen the stigma surrounding it. I strongly believe that social stigma and discrimination can make mental health problems worse and stop a person from getting the help he or she may need
Introduction
The mental health treatment gap has exceeded 90% in Lebanon due
to high levels of stigma, limited resources, and limited mental healthcare
facilities. Multiple survivors of the blast claimed that they were experiencing
severe psychological responses to the traumatic incident that happened in
Beirut on August 4th, 2020. The explosion left families devastated and
children experiencing many psychological responses to the trauma, ranging
from loss of appetite to a
Goal
Our goal is to fundraise for many mental health organizations in Lebanon s, which helps to improve the lives of Lebanese citizens who have experienced the tragic incident.
By writing various articles surrounding the explosion and spreading awareness about the invisible effects of it, we hope to reduce the stigma surrounding the mental health crisis in Lebanon. We hope to collaborate with various psychological services and mental health organizations in Lebanon in order to provide resources and help when needed. Our goal is to fundraise for the organizations from the United States, considering the economic crisis in Lebanon at the moment.
Unfortunately, there are almost no published data on national lifetime prevalence and treatment of mental disorders in a large number of cities in Lebanon. Furthermore, the effects of the explosion on mental health of the Lebanese citizens has not been addressed accordingly on a national level. However, there are a number of studies aimed at investigating the lifetime prevalence, treatment, age of onset of mental disorders, and their relationship to the explosion in Lebanon.
Logistics of Mental Health in Lebanon.
What is currently available?
At the time of the last survey, Lebanon had an estimated 3 psychiatric beds, 2
psychiatrists, 2 psychiatric nurses and 1 mental health psychologist per 100 000 population.
“There are 3 dedicated mental hospitals in Lebanon. The largest inpatient
psychiatric hospital has over 1200 beds providing acute and long-term care for patients
of all ages with mental disorders, including psychiatric illnesses and mental retardation.
The hospital is over-crowded and standards of care are suboptimal” (LM Chahine, 2019).