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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Health Report. |
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Many Syrians have fled to Lebanon |
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to escape the conflict in their homeland. |
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Recently, reporter Jamie Dettmer |
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visited the Lebanese city of Tripoli, |
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where he found a number of Syrian refugees. |
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Among them was a six-year-old boy |
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from the Syrian town of Hama. |
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The boy listed the dangers he faced in Syria |
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from exploding rockets. |
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He explained the picture he has made of a house |
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and an artillery battery. |
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Mohamed Khalil is a Psychiatrist, |
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specializing in treatment of mental disorders. |
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He says it is not unusual for refugee children |
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from the two-and-half year long Syrian war to draw weapons. |
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He says they also often change quickly |
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from hyperactivity behavior to emotional withdraw. |
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Doctor Khalil says children |
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who have seen inhuman acts and violent death |
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often return to behavior seen in younger children. |
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He says they might suck their thumbs or wet their beds, |
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and he says they often have frightening dreams, |
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and experience restless sleep. |
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Doctor Khalil says there is a public health crisis |
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across the Middle East right now. |
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He says it gets little or no attention |
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from the media or aid groups. |
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There are no good estimates of the numbers of people |
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suffering from mental health problems in the Middle East. |
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But mental health experts say violence and political unrest |
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is causing severe depression, anxiety, |
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and post-traumatic stress disorders(PTSD). |
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The problems are often left untreated. |
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Ahmed Abdellah is a psychiatrist in Egypt. |
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He says cultural shame about mental health problems |
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can interfere with efforts to help people. |
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He says three years of civil conflict in Egypt |
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is harming the mental health of its people. |
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"The problem is there's a gap |
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between what is going on in the society |
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and between what is in clinics and in psychiatric institutes, |
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especially the governmental institutes. |
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Nowadays we have massive numbers of post-traumatic stress disorder cases. |
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But you will not find maybe any of these cases |
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in psychiatric departments," said Abdellah. |
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He also says people are left to suffer when they could be helped, |
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but he says more problems are created |
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when victims of PTSD do not get treatment. |
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"To leave somebody with trauma untreated, |
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this opens him and the society to many expectations. |
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First of all you are open for more aggression, |
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you are open for more stress and displaced stress. |
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We are open to more violence, actually. |
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If you have maybe tens of thousands, |
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maybe more of people who are suffering, |
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you could not expect them to work, |
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to share, to intervene, to interact," he said. |
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And that's the VOA Learning English Health Report. |
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For more stories about health, |
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go to our website tingvoa.com. |
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I'm Christopher Cruise. |
