Mental health is not easy subject. So we decided to summarize what we learned these past 4 months of investigating on the topic and share our learnings with you in the simplest form possible: we made a list 🙂

If you have additional questions about mental health in Lebanon, don’t hesitate to send them to us, and we’ll do our best to investigate them next year!

1-To suffer from a mental health disorder, is…

To lack the resources (emotional, psychological) to deal with daily life. Things like getting out of bed, taking a shower, driving to work, socializing with friends, might get too hard to do.

2- In Lebanon, as in the developed world (where we have statistics), the most common disorders are

Anxiety and depression. Read here our portrait of Leen, who suffers from an anxiety disorder, and our portrait of Julie, whose husband who suffered from depression committed suicide.  

3-Funnily enough, despite of our violent past and our current instability,  we are not affected more than the rest of the developed world

1 out of  4 Lebanese will develop a mental health disorder (source: Idraac) in their life. It’s the same average in the countries of the Western World.

4- How come we don’t fare that badly?

We’re not exactly sure, but experts believe that family bonds, climate and our Mediterranean diet have a positive influence on mental health. 🙂

5- Only 1 in 10 Lebanese with mental health disorders will get treated.

Mostly because they don’t know that they suffer from a mental health disorder. Too often mental health is considered as a lack of strength, or a normal thing. Which means that the main obstacle to get access to treatment is not stigma (though it is an important factor), but ignorance.

6-Which is a pity, because to get treated and have a change a getting better, the first thing to do is to get diagnosed!

That’s why we made for you a list of signs that might alert you on the state of your mental health.

And we have compiled a list of people and organizations that you can reach out to for help.

7- And here are some hard core stats about mental health in Lebanon (source: Idraac)

-1 out of 4 Lebanese will develop a mental health disorder in their lives.

-only 1 in 10 people with mental health disorders will get treated.

-1 in 20 Lebanese people has considered ending his or her life  (please call 1564, Embrace hotline, in case of emergency)

-1 in 30 Lebanese struggles with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

-1 in 50 Lebanese deals with a Generalized Anxiety Disorder  

So let’s talk about it.

#letstalkaboutmentalhealth

#becauseitmatters

#LFonMentalHealth