Over a year after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, Syria is rebuilding its mental health system to address the substantial psychological toll of decades of repression, a 14-year civil war, ongoing sectarian tensions, refugee returns, and a substance-abuse epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 10 Syrians are estimated to have a mental health condition, but for most, high stigma, low awareness, and very limited service availability preclude access to care.
Rebuilding From a Fragmented Foundation
Syria has only about 60 psychiatrists to serve the entire population, far insufficient for current needs. Under the previous regime, psychiatry was deliberately downgraded and mental health became a small department affiliated with primary healthcare rather than an independent directorate. Dr. Mazen Al-Khalil, director of the Syrian Psychiatric Association, noted that “The prevalence of mental illness in Syria as a result of the war has reached 30%.” While awareness of mental illness has increased and stigma has declined, the mental health workforce remains severely limited. Many experienced psychiatrists have died or left the country, and early-career residents lack adequate training. Although more psychologists and social workers exist, they have only bachelor’s education and lack training for clinical or prevention work.
Community-Based Recovery Models
In Homs, a stepped care model is showing promising results for former detainees from Assad’s prisons. This approach uses lay practitioners to provide psychological interventions before escalating to intensive biomedical treatments. Follow-up surveys with the first 170 participants showed significant improvements: overall depression severity dropped 47%, anxiety 42%, and post-traumatic stress 35%. The number with clinical-level depression fell from 70% to 30%, anxiety from 60% to 25%, and post-traumatic stress from 65% to 35%.
The government must lead mental health reform by prioritizing it, securing external funding, and expanding community-based services. The WHO is supporting development of mental health programming aligned with national priorities, while over 700 primary care providers have been trained to identify and manage mental health conditions. Key priorities include increasing budget allocations, developing a qualified mental health workforce, scaling community-based services, and investing in public awareness and mental health literacy campaigns.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://newlinesmag.com/argument/how-supporting-mental-health-will-help-secure-syrias-future/