Mental Health

Mental health is a subject that many people do not want to talk about or share. However, like any other form of health care, it is very important to understand, be able to navigate, and have adequate resources to deal with it. In the United States, there are current structural barriers that do not allow Arab Americans to have the proper access to mental health resources that they need (Pampati et. al., 2018). There are also common cultural practices among Arab Americans that make them unwilling to seek out such resources. Proper access to mental health resources for Arab Americans has never been so much more important than in the past few years due to the events that occurred after 9/11.

Many Arab Americans have been the target of harassment, discrimination, and stereotype generalization. This has increased the rate of depression, and stress among the population. A survey conducted by Amer and Hovey after 9/11 revealed that 50% of Arab Americans showed symptoms of depression (Eldeeb, 2017). Many Arab Americans have also faced adverse discrimination as a result of what happened during 9/11. They have also faced discrimination due to their immigration from other countries and being considered outsiders. It was reported that 54% of people faced discrimination and 54% of those people had symptoms of PTSD (Eldeeb, 2017). Many U.S.-born Arab Americans and refugees have reported significant depression rates(Pampati et. al., 2018). All of these statistics demonstrate that there is a need for increased access to mental health among the Arab American community.

There are many cultural stigmas and practices among the Arab American community that does not allow them to access mental health resources. There are a number of people in the community that believe any divulsion in talking about a familial affair to strangers is inappropriate and should be reprimanded (Eldeeb, 2017). Arab Americans believe that any illnesses or any aspects of mental health make the family seem weak. Therefore many Arab Americans refuse to go seek help from a therapist. Instead, they either keep it amongst themselves or talk it out with their families. However, by not talking to professionals about the issue, they are not able to improve or their situation worsens. With that said, there have been instances when Arab Americans have gone to a therapist and the translator reprimands the patient. It is important to increase the accessibility of mental health resources for Arab Americans so that the community is not held back by mental constraints.