Lebanon: Mental Health System Reform And The Syrian Crisis

This article, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, provides an overview of the mental health situation in Lebanon amidst the Syrian crisis. Research involving refugees conducted in Lebanon since the onset of the Syrian crisis points to a clear increase in mental disorders in the young and adult Syrian refugee population in association with that crisis. At the policy level, despite the great strain on its health system, Lebanon has undertaken a reform of the mental health system through the implementation of a 5-year national mental health strategy which aims at improving the opportunities for better mental health and wellbeing for all persons living in Lebanon, regardless of nationality.