By Maria Chirvanian | Staff Writer
In the past few years, as voices have risen about mental health, people have started talking more about it, and stigmatization has been significantly reduced. This is especially present in the younger generations (starting with Millennials, Gen Z, and the new Gen Alpha), where talking about one’s mental health has been almost completely normalized. However, this progress is not necessarily present everywhere. In fact, we can still sense some shame behind this subject in the Arab world, particularly when it is mentioned in front of parent generations. The younger generations, on the other hand, are more open-minded and aware of the issues in this area. As a result, one of the biggest challenges faced by today’s youth in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region is to talk to their parents and ask for help when a mental illness is present. Obviously, this is not the case in every household, and some Arab parents are more open-minded than others. In this article, though, we will tackle the many cases where they are not, and explore the outcomes of this behavior on their children.
While we blame today’s Arab parents a lot for their strict parenting and intolerance of the potential that their children might present signs of mental illness, we must also look at why they behave the way they do. The answer is simple: it is the way they were raised. If we consider the period during which they were still growing up, mental health talk was not yet prevalent, not just in the Arab world, but almost everywhere. The world was not as open-minded as today. In some traditional societies, such as Middle Eastern ones (or others), men were expected not to show their emotions, whereas women were expected to put others’ needs above their own, such as caregiving, for example. Gender norms were very present and applied, and this has negatively reflected on adult generations today.
These parenting styles have been passed on from generation to generation for centuries, each time a bit less harshly than the one before. Parents today are not as strict as their parents were, even though, to some extent, there is no denying that they are, in fact, strict. Part of this is of course due to their need to protect their children, but, on the other side of the coin, they are not as accepting as their children need them to be, especially when there is an undiagnosed mental illness involved. After speaking to several people aged 18 – 22 years (who will not be named for privacy), I have found that a large percentage of them would rather deal with issues by themselves than turn to their parents for support because they “wouldn’t be taken seriously.” Again, this is mostly due to the root cause of the problem, which is the way the parents were raised and think this is what’s best for their children.
Consequently, we can derive that a lot of teenagers and young adults internalize mental illnesses and disorders instead of turning to professional help, such as a psychologist, or even a psychiatrist in some cases. Depression is not considered real. Why would it be? A roof is present over our heads, we have beds to sleep in and food to eat – it therefore does not make sense to be depressed. ADHD? Unheard of. Mental disorders are nothing but a myth. It is a shame to have a mental illness, or even to merely talk about it. So, to go to the extent of treating it? It is not happening anytime soon.
The Middle East, but particularly Arab societies, has long been known for its traditional approach, which includes parenting practices, or styles. They are not necessarily wrong, but they do not support mental health, or even the talk of it, in the slightest. Again, this is not everyone’s case, and to some extent, we cannot blame them, as this is how the adult generations were raised; this is what they think is right. However, this is impacting their children’s mental health, making them internalize mental illnesses or disorders when present instead of treating them. Of course, we cannot expect the parent generations to suddenly change and be more accepting of various things, but we can call for an initiative that may need to start with raising awareness about this issue, especially in the MENA region, because today’s young people are tomorrow’s parents, and if the issue persists, it may stay prevalent in the coming generations. We do have hope though, not only because young adults are more aware than ever, especially about issues like these, but also because, as previously mentioned, this problem is being passed on from generation to generation in a less severe manner. So, with the world’s progress so far, can we say that this ends with today’s youth?