Mental health in Lebanon.. High rates of depression and increased consumption of sedatives

The Lebanese live under economic, security, and political conditions that have exhausted their lives on more than one level, including the state of mental health, which was exacerbated by the repercussions of the Beirut port explosion in 2020, coinciding with the repercussions of Corona, in addition to the collapse of the local currency.

Perhaps the earthquake that struck Lebanon a few days ago as a result of the aftershocks of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria came to translate the psychological state of the Lebanese, whose feelings during the 40 seconds that the earthquake lasted can be described as “extreme terror”, while many took to the streets in fear.

In addition to this tremor and the concerns it raised, as the Lebanese talk today about what might happen if a devastating earthquake hits the country similar to the one that hit Turkey and Syria, amid fears that there will be no human or stone left, the daily details in Lebanon have cast a shadow on the psychological state. Which is getting worse day after day in the absence of the necessary support from the responsible authorities.

Observers affirm that the state is not concerned with the psychological issue that people suffer from, as it lifted subsidies on several medications, including mental health drugs, despite the urgent need for them, except for the chaos and lack of oversight over the pharmaceutical sector, in addition to the decline in health services and the price of treatment sessions.

Facts about mental health in Lebanon

The Lebanese are among the 10 most stressed and saddened peoples in the world, according to Gallup’s Global Emotions Report 2020, a number that is believed to have been exacerbated by the crises that the country has witnessed since that date, and led to what is described as a total collapse.

Indeed, UN sources indicate that the Covid epidemic, the port explosion, and the deteriorating economic situation have had devastating psychological effects on the Lebanese people, of which 25% are now suffering from some kind of psychological disorder, according to medical sources.

The best evidence of this is the increase in the consumption of antidepressants and tranquilizers by 20% in 2020, according to medical sources, noting that a Lebanese university study showed that nearly 17% of the Lebanese suffer from severe depression since the Beirut port explosion.

The Lebanese between denial and hope

Mental health specialist Fadl Shahimi confirms that the issue of mental health in Lebanon accumulates day after day, due to the large number of psychological traumas that the people suffer from, the latest of which was the earthquake that the Lebanese felt last week.

In an interview with Al-Arabi, from Beirut, he points out that the people’s reaction in general is exaggerated because the ability to endure decreases day after day. He explains that this ability usually rises when a person lives in good health, social and material conditions, but when he is exposed to one shock after another, as is the case in Lebanon, his endurance decreases.

Shahimi records some paradoxes, including that most of the Lebanese people live in a state of denial, but at the same time, some people are indifferent to pressure due to its abundance, bearing in mind that the incidence of mental disorders, specifically depression and psychological anxiety, has increased by a large percentage, and this is what health workers feel. Mental.

He points out that some people still cling to hope despite all this pressure, live a productive period, and insist on continuing, which gives them a kind of motivation that compensates to some extent for the great pressures they are experiencing.