The study of mental health in the Middle East is an area of research that continues to grow in its scope and content. In 1998, the World Mental Health Survey Initiative was conducted by the World Federation for Mental Health. The (WFMH) was originally created in 1948 and works in concert with the World Health Organization (WHO). The 1998 survey sought to help define and clarify mental health Issues across many societies.
To accurately evaluate and understand the mental health issues of the Middle East, one must take into account the geographic, historical, cultural, and social influences of that part of the world. While each of the many countries commonly considered part of the "Middle East" is unique, there is a binding ethnic fabric that should be considered. Firstly, the Middle East is the origin of many of the major world religions. Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all began in this region. Of these many religions, Islam has had the most lasting and culturally significant influence on the region, encompassing well over ninety percent (90%) of the population by some measurements. The tenets of the Islamic faith, and its strict purpose, certainly have served as both a guide and a hindrance to the practices' of mental health care providers in the Middle East. There is a conflict between ancient religious teachings and the modern day or "Western world" approach to the issues of mental health.
Historical perspective
Mental health in the Middle East, from Pharaonic times through to the Islamic Renaissance, has a rich and complex history. During Pharaonic times, soma and psyche were terms used to define mental disorders, and such disorders were described as problems of the heart or uterus, as stated in Eber's and Kahoun's Papyri. While mystical culture predominated at that time, mental disorders were treated on a somatic basis. In the Islamic era, those with mental illness were not known to have endured any forms of torture, nor were they ostracized; this was due to the belief that possession by a good Muslim genie was possible. The first mental hospital in Europe was located in Spain, as discussed by author Paul Ghalioungui, following the Moorish invasions. Mental hospitals then expanded to other European countries. The occurrence of anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, suicide, conversion disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorders had been reported, and these disorders were treated with some success.
Morality and culture most likely arose from a collective choice of communal decisions to provide an accepted structure of communal living. Geography, tradition, and the specific environment may have been most influential in these decisions. The development or evolution of a social milieu integrated with the culmination of culture. Cultural morality has provided a way of managing conflict within a societal group. Cultural morality and the required behaviors that are cooperative in nature and a cognizance of others within the group, ostracized unhealthy behaviors, and therefore encouraged emotions and actions beneficial to society. These realized constructs provided an outlet and model of motivations and accepted actions within a social group. In a 1992 study, Schwartz, Roccas and Sagiv evaluated how priorities are displayed and altered by a "social experience", and how those priorities affect "behavioral orientation and choices". The study surmised that the majority of cultures prioritize some of ten particular value types: self-determination, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence, and universalism. Among these there were values that cultures prioritize to varying degrees.
