Affordable Health Insurance News
Imagine if your house was damaged as a result of being bombed in a military war. Now imagine if your house was bombed three times within a matter of years. Or imagine seeing your family and neighbors lying wounded and dying in the street of your hometown. These are the sort of mental health issues that residents of Iraq have to learn to cope with everyday. The question then becomes “Is the country equipped to deal with an epidemic of people who are experiencing mental illness?”
Iraq’s mental health dilemma
According to Iraq’s psychiatric association, Iraq has a mere 100 psychiatrists that must provide mental health care for a population that borders on 30 million [see PDF from World Health Organization]. And, even though the war appears to be winding down, there are more and more citizens of Iraq seeking medical treatment for their mental health issues that are a direct result of the war. The reality is that Iraq’s ability to deal with the onslaught of mental health patients lacks greatly.
As a result of this gross imbalance, Iraqis are turning to self-medication as a means of coping with the trauma they have suffered. Prescription drug abuse is currently the number one substance abuse issue in Iraq, and it grows by the day.
Iraq’s mental health needs on the rise
The country’s largest mental health institution, Al-Rashad, has had an increase of 10 percent in the number of patients, and they’ve had to turn patients away. Al-Rashad is a government-funded facility, and is the only long-term mental health institution in Iraq.
As more and more citizens of Iraq search for help in dealing with their emotional and physical scars, it appears that the mental health community will struggle to find ways to help and accommodate them.
