Anxiety disorders and PTSD in Palestine: a literature review
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Anxiety disorders and PTSD in Palestine: a literature review Mohammad Marie1*, Sana SaadAdeen2 and Maher Battat2,3
Abstract Background: The WHO reports that anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders worldwide. Most people who experience such events recover from it; however, people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continue to be severely depressed and anxious for several months or even years following the event. Palestinians are particularly at a higher risk for developing anxiety disorders and PTSD due to the continuous exposure to political violence, prolonged displacement, and other limitation on professional, educational, financial opportunities, and mental health services. This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the literature and established studies concerning Anxiety disorders besides PTSD in Palestine. Methods: PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar was used to search for materials for the critical analysis of empirical articles. The following aspects were taken into consideration: study type, sample, and key findings. Results: In this review, we included about twenty-four studies from Palestine (West Bank and Gaza). Five studies relate to children, five relate to adolescents, three relate to women, three relate to physical diseases, and four relate to gender and age differences. Results show that anxiety disorders and PTSD are one of the most common mental disorders in Palestine. Anxiety and PTSD develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, personality, and life events. They are mostly associated with low quality of life and disability. The results indicate that a significant proportion of Palestinian experiencing serious issues that deal with several challenges, distinct barriers including; inconsistent availability of medications, absence of multidisciplinary teamwork, insufficient specialists, fragmented mental health system, and occupation. Conclusion: As primary prevention, the occupation has to have considered as the main source of anxiety and other mental health disorders in Palestine. Besides, there is a need to implement a mental health care system through multidisciplinary work and raising awareness regarding the prevalence of mental disorders. Keywords: Anxiety disorder, Anxiety, PTSD, Palestine, Gaza strip, West Bank
Background Anxiety disorders and PTSD worldwide
Over one billion people globally have one or more mental disorders. The WHO reports that anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders worldwide [1]. Anxiety disorders are frequent there lifetime prevalence ranging between 5 and 25% of the population, and a 12* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Mental Health at Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
month prevalence ranging between 3.3 and 20.4%, world widely [2]. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders globally especially in women more than in men [1].
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