RIYADH: Increased awareness of mental health issues in Saudi Arabia has resulted in less stigma and more people seeking professional help, a health industry leader said on World Mental Health Day on Thursday.
This trend of more people receiving care to improve their mental health reflects positive changes taking place in society, added Malek Almoosa, the CEO of Almoosa Health.
“It is promising that more individuals are recognizing the need for support and are willing to seek help, which in turn leads to greater engagement with mental health services,” he said.
“This is a positive sign of increased awareness and acceptance of mental health issues in our society, and a lot of progress has been made in the Kingdom in recent years. In turn, this has led to decreased stigma around seeking help, although some cultural barriers remain.”
Scott Armstrong, founder of the mental health-awareness platform Mentl, which is based in the UAE, said that while poor mental health is a global concern, there are factors in the Arabian Gulf region that make efforts to address it even more challenging.
“There is a lot of stigma … it still takes a lot for people to come forward and have the courage to look in the mirror and have a difficult conversation,” he said.
One of the factors, he added, is the ambitious nature of professional life in the region.
“There are so many things that one can achieve, one can strive for, but at the same time it’s very, very easy to get swept up in that and then burn out,” he said.
Armstrong has his own experience of the struggles that can accompany mental illness; he decided to found Mentl after his father died following a battle with depression.
“I remember looking at his body in the open casket and just going: ‘Why can we not talk about this?’” he said.
Almoosa, whose company recently opened a mental health facility in Al-Hofuf, said it is particularly important that efforts to raise awareness of metal health issues continue.
“Continued advocacy and community engagement will be essential to ensure that acceptance and support for mental health services continue to grow,” he said.
In 2016, more than 4,000 people between the ages of 15 and 65 from all parts of the Kingdom were polled as part of the Saudi National Mental Health Survey. It found 80 percent of Saudis with severe mental health issues did not seek any kind of care or treatment, and that mental health conditions were more commonly reported by young people and those with higher levels of education.
The prevalence of mental disorders among Saudi youth was found to be 40 percent, which was lower than in the US (52.4 percent) but higher than Australia (26 percent) and the European average (13.7 percent).
Armstrong, whose company launched the “Tear Away the Silence” program on World Mental Health Day, said such surveys serve as important tools that can motivate more people to seek help.
“The cold, hard statistics show us that more people are struggling than are not,” he said, referencing a 2022 McKinsey Health Institute study that found 66 percent of people surveyed in the GCC had suffered from mental health challenges at some point in their lives.
“It’s just so important that people don’t feel isolated, lonely or that it’s just them and that there’s something wrong with them … It takes courage to open up but you will be surprised just what the response is.”
