Have the Iranians reached the threshold of a "mental health emergency"?
In recent years, the issue of depression, anxiety, or mental disorders among Iranians has been one of the most controversial topics among politicians, medical officials, professional associations, and health experts.
While official statistics and scientific research indicate the extent of these problems, some authorities have dismissed these concerns in some cases.
For example, Mohammad Reza Shlabafan, then the Director General of the Ministry of Health's Mental, Social and Addictions Office, announced in December 1403 that "about 25% of Iran's population" suffer from some kind of mental disorder and said that many of the factors influencing the spread of these disorders are social and cultural and are not under the control of the Ministry of Health.
Now, with the occurrence of two wars in the last year and a half, economic insecurity and uncertainty about the future, the mental health of Iranians has been exposed to additional pressures, and the Iranian authorities and media have published reports on the subject and warned against this situation. In the latter case, Alireza Aghayousifi, the head of the psychology and counseling system organization in the country, announced in an interview with the Ilana news agency that Iranian society is not far from what he called "the emergency point for mental health".
Read the rest of the report on the Radio Farda website.