From Dr Haney Shafey
It is my honor and privilege, as one of the leading doctors and professors (Clinical Associate Professor Adj University of Western Ontario Canada) in the field of Psychiatry, with 37 years of experience both in North America and in the Middle East, to introduce to you our new initiative.
Before doing so, let me point out that the Middle East has become an integral part of the world’s scientific community. We have, however, begun to lag behind when it comes to establishing our own practical identity as well as specific diagnostic tools to ail physicians in treating patients in the unique environment of the Middle East. We here in the Middle East are facing a crisis similar to that which is facing the rest of the world in terms of mental health care. It is well established that diseases such as depression, currently listed by the World Health Organization as the second leading cause of disability in the world, costs governments billions of dollars in lack of productivity. By the year 2020, depression will be the number one leading cause of disability. We have always looked to the West to establish guidelines to treat our population here, a population which is diverse and significantly different, culturally, genetically, and even metabolically, than a similar sample population in North America. It is time to address the challenges of mental health in the Middle East in a culturally sensitive and tailored fashion. We therefore have taken the initiative to create the first guideline for treatment of Mood and Anxiety Disorder in the Middle East, taking all the above into consideration.
We have launched a Congress that will be held in Dubai between the 26th to the 29th of April 2013, which will utilize the expertise of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT). CANMAT has worked tirelessly since 1995 to develop and disseminate evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for treatment of mental health disorders such as Major Depression, Anxiety and Bipolar Disorder. The CANMAT Guideline is among the most widely cited guidelines in the field of Psychiatry. We would like to use the CANMAT Guidelines as a framework to build a Middle East centric approach to mental health treatment, through the Middle East Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (MENMAT).
The objective of our Congress is:
(1) To teach the best practice in the evidence-based treatment of Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Anxiety Disorder;
(2) To clarify principles to create guidelines to various cultures and countries in the Middle East (MENMAT); and
(3) To build a collaborative group of leading clinicians and academics in the Middle East who will work in collaboration with CANMAT/MENMAT to improve the recognition and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
Following our initial Congress, we will be selecting a group of highly qualified professors and doctors from the Middle East to form the nucleus for the creation of the MENMAT Guidelines and provide future research projects to follow the implementation of these needed guidelines
It is my honor and privilege, as one of the leading doctors and professors (Clinical Associate Professor Adj University of Western Ontario Canada) in the field of Psychiatry, with 37 years of experience both in North America and in the Middle East, to introduce to you our new initiative.
Before doing so, let me point out that the Middle East has become an integral part of the world’s scientific community. We have, however, begun to lag behind when it comes to establishing our own practical identity as well as specific diagnostic tools to ail physicians in treating patients in the unique environment of the Middle East. We here in the Middle East are facing a crisis similar to that which is facing the rest of the world in terms of mental health care. It is well established that diseases such as depression, currently listed by the World Health Organization as the second leading cause of disability in the world, costs governments billions of dollars in lack of productivity. By the year 2020, depression will be the number one leading cause of disability. We have always looked to the West to establish guidelines to treat our population here, a population which is diverse and significantly different, culturally, genetically, and even metabolically, than a similar sample population in North America. It is time to address the challenges of mental health in the Middle East in a culturally sensitive and tailored fashion. We therefore have taken the initiative to create the first guideline for treatment of Mood and Anxiety Disorder in the Middle East, taking all the above into consideration.
We have launched a Congress that will be held in Dubai between the 26th to the 29th of April 2013, which will utilize the expertise of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT). CANMAT has worked tirelessly since 1995 to develop and disseminate evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for treatment of mental health disorders such as Major Depression, Anxiety and Bipolar Disorder. The CANMAT Guideline is among the most widely cited guidelines in the field of Psychiatry. We would like to use the CANMAT Guidelines as a framework to build a Middle East centric approach to mental health treatment, through the Middle East Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (MENMAT).
The objective of our Congress is:
(1) To teach the best practice in the evidence-based treatment of Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Anxiety Disorder;
(2) To clarify principles to create guidelines to various cultures and countries in the Middle East (MENMAT); and
(3) To build a collaborative group of leading clinicians and academics in the Middle East who will work in collaboration with CANMAT/MENMAT to improve the recognition and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
Following our initial Congress, we will be selecting a group of highly qualified professors and doctors from the Middle East to form the nucleus for the creation of the MENMAT Guidelines and provide future research projects to follow the implementation of these needed guidelines