Arab Mental Health Issues

761 Words2 Pages

The word “Arab” is a cultural term that refers to those who speak Arabic as their first language (Facts about Arabs and the Arab World.) The majority of Arab’s are Muslim; however, they are many that are Christian, Jewish, and a variety of other religions. The Arab world consists of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Facts about Arabs and the Arab World.) Arab countries have a rich diversity of ethic, linguistic, and religious communities that make them all unique in their own ways. There are over …show more content…

One of the largest reasons of not wanting to seek treatment for a mental health issue is the stigma that is associated with it. Stigma is defined as a sign of disgrace or discredit, which sets a person apart from others. From an article written by Hadiyah Muhammad, she explains why she choose to study the field of behavioral healthcare (Islam and Mental Health.) Her parents converted to Islam in the late 1970’s, where they immediately changed their health behaviors. Her parents with in love with their new way of life, and wanted to implement their learnings and understandings in everything that they did. They stopped with the consumption of pork, alcohol, tobacco, preferred to have separate parties, and fasted during the month of Ramadan. The conversion to Islam is not just to a different belief system, but to a different way of life that helps change everyday activities to better ones. So, she thought that she and others in her community were not prone to the issues that non-Muslims faced. She would read articles about women who were experiencing depression, anxiety, domestic violence, self-esteem/worth issues and believed that she was “immune” to those issues because of her Muslim identity and upbringing. It was not until her own personal experience that she began to ask herself why this was happening to her and how she could help others that were affected in her community. Mental health does not discriminate from gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, religion, age, country, or social status. There are barriers in this group as there are with every group, the feeling of not being accepted because of an illness that you cannot control. Every person has the possibility of developing a mental health issue and needs to know the steps to being able to find the help that they deserve and

Open Document