Massachusetts General Hospital

Global Psychiatry visits Kuwait

26/Oct/2012

MENTAL HEALTH CHAMPIONS: MGH Psychiatry and Global Psychiatry leadership with Alaa Alhomaizi, center, and Arwad Al Sabah, fourth from right

Psychiatry is an underrepresented medical discipline in many parts of the world. Kuwait, a small Arab country in the Middle East, is no exception. Leadership from the MGH Department of Psychiatry and Division of Global Psychiatry recently traveled to Kuwait for a week to support efforts to enhance mental health services there. The trip’s events, timed to mark World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, included meetings with key health and mental health leaders; a dinner with Her Royal Highness Sheika Arwad Al Sabah, the daughter of the late emir and a champion of mental health; a professional conference organized by the Ministry of Health for primary care and general practitioners and mental health workers; and a public symposium hosted by Standing for Psychological Education and Awareness in Kuwait (SPEAK). SPEAK, an anti-mental-health-stigma campaign, was founded by twin sisters and MGH psychiatry research interns Alaa and Dalal Alhomaizi. Lecture and panel topics included an update on novel, practical approaches for common mental health disorders, primary care psychiatry, considerations for special populations, innovations in depression treatment, and spirituality and mental health.



Read more articles from the 10/26/12 Hotline issue.