“About 80 to 90 percent of our society does not believe in the existence of mental illnesses. They do not accept the fact that sick people are psychologically ill and attribute the conditions to jinns, the evil eye or black magic,” said Al-Zaydi.
He added that the families of those who are mentally ill try to treat them using spiritual means, such as reciting the Qur’an, before taking them to mental hospitals.
“This, however, impairs the diagnosis process and proper treatment,” he added.
He admitted that mental diseases are difficult to diagnose and treat compared to physical illnesses due to an absence of apparatus that can accurately identify the problems.
“There are X-rays, ECGs, endoscopies, ultra sound scans, MRIs and other techniques that make it easy for medical doctors to identify physical illnesses and determine the best way to treat them. However, there are no such apparatus to identify mental illnesses,” he said.
Al-Zaydi also said the word “insane” should not be used to describe those who suffer from mental disorders.
“The word insane is never used in medical lexicons. It has no scientific or medical roots,” he added.
