Mental Health Problems in Iraq: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: Most of the population worldwide is suffering from mental health problems. For the last four decades, Iraq has had a long history of wars and terrorist activities that have seriously hampered development and, therefore, there is limited research that has been carried out that focuses on the mental health of the nation, not to mention all the related psychological or other medical issues that result from poor mental health. Therefore, this systematic review aims to evaluate the prevalence and trend of mental illness in Iraq. Materials and methods: By using the protocol of PRISMA, 33 English-language articles were searched in the major databases, (PubMed, EMBASE and MEDLINE). With the help of specific keywords such as “mental health in Iraq”, “anxiety”, “depression”, “Iraq survey”, “psychosis”, “postpartum”, “prevalence of mental illness in Iraq”, “prevalence of mental disorders in Iraq”. 14 articles were finally selected for further data extraction. Results: Findings revealed that many different factors are responsible for the mental health problems, such as violence, war, people with diabetes, stressful environments, infertile women, parents of children with cancer, and old age. Topics such as child and adolescent mental health include hospital-based studies on the psychiatric problems of children, community-based investigations on the mental health of minority groups, the prevalence rate among different age groups within the child and adolescent population, and studies on prevention and intervention strategies for boosting mental healthcare should all be considered for further investigation. Conclusion: This systematic review indicated that research into the mental health field needs to be regarded as a priority focus for the country. Though major factors have been identified, there is an uneven distribution of the present mental health situation and published studies.