PHCC Calls for Increased Attention to Mental Health

Primary Health Care Corporation

The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) called for increased attention to mental health in light of the changes that accompanied the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, as human societies and their members faced a set of challenges, fears and psychological pressures.

Majd Al Shami, a psychologist at Leabaib Health Center of the PHCC, confirmed in this regard that the need for support in the field of mental health has increased significantly in the coming months and years, and explained that investment at the national and international levels in mental health programs is increasing, and more important than ever before.

Al Shami pointed to the increase in psychological disorders due to the events that the world witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and said that the most important disorders are social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, indicating that social anxiety is a common psychological disorder and its prevalence in Western studies reaches 13 percent of the population, and among its psychological symptoms is fear of others' negative evaluation of the person or his behavior, and avoidance of situations, while its physical symptoms are increased heart rate, rapid and shallow breathing, sweating and tremor in hands, feet, or the whole body, redness or yellowness of the face in the case of brown skin, dry throat, dizziness, lack of concentration and forgetfulness.

She also stressed that attention to physical health and disease prevention is one of the things necessary to maintain mental health and psychological well-being of the individual, and said that the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder depends on the severity of symptoms and the period of time in which they persist, and is carried out through drug therapy to control the imbalance in brain chemistry and chemical neurotransmitters, in addition to cognitive behavioral therapy as one of the most important and most effective psychological treatment methods in treating anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. (QNA)