American Journal of Health Research

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A Critical Analysis and a Suggested Reform of Psychiatric Curricula in Medical Faculties During Syrian Crisis

Received: 08 July 2016    Accepted: 09 July 2016    Published: 27 August 2016
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Abstract

Recent research shows that secondary consequences of war on family, social, and economic life are important predictors of psychological outcomes. Post traumatic stress disorders PTSDs have been found to increase dramatically during war as they are psychological responses to intense traumatic events, particularly which threaten life. Syria is facing a serious health problem since the number of outpatients with somatic symptoms and related disorders has increased as well as the number of inpatients with psychiatric emergencies, has also risen during Syrian crisis. The WHO emphasizes that mental health should be viewed as an integral part of public health and social welfare programs, and not as a specialist activity set apart. The Syrian society is in critical need for young medical doctors, who are specifically trained to handle psychiatric complex situations and who, are culturally attuned to their requirements, problems of peace, and human rights. It has been of critical importance to assess the current psychiatric curricula, related to stress disorders, which are delivered in Syrian medical schools. This paper presents a critical analysis to the current psychiatric curricula in Syrian Universities and suggests a new psychiatric curricula and training that need to be delivered in order to produce health professionals who are able to provide psychological first aid, problem-solving counseling, relaxation training, and mange acute behavioral emergencies in countries that suffer from conflicts and crisis. This would be of critical importance to design community-based and culturally sensitive programs and also to design recovery-oriented programs that can promote mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of people affected by crisis.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13
Published in American Journal of Health Research (Volume 4, Issue 6-1, November 2016)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Medical Education in Emergency

Page(s) 12-18
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Psychiatric Curricula, Crisis, Syria, Emergency, Curriculum Reform

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Psychiatry Almouwasat University Hospital, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria

  • Faculty of Dentistry, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria

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  • APA Style

    Youssef Latifeh, Mayssoon Dashash. (2016). A Critical Analysis and a Suggested Reform of Psychiatric Curricula in Medical Faculties During Syrian Crisis. American Journal of Health Research, 4(6-1), 12-18. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13

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    ACS Style

    Youssef Latifeh; Mayssoon Dashash. A Critical Analysis and a Suggested Reform of Psychiatric Curricula in Medical Faculties During Syrian Crisis. Am. J. Health Res. 2016, 4(6-1), 12-18. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13

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    AMA Style

    Youssef Latifeh, Mayssoon Dashash. A Critical Analysis and a Suggested Reform of Psychiatric Curricula in Medical Faculties During Syrian Crisis. Am J Health Res. 2016;4(6-1):12-18. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13,
      author = {Youssef Latifeh and Mayssoon Dashash},
      title = {A Critical Analysis and a Suggested Reform of Psychiatric Curricula in Medical Faculties During Syrian Crisis},
      journal = {American Journal of Health Research},
      volume = {4},
      number = {6-1},
      pages = {12-18},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajhr.s.2016040601.13},
      abstract = {Recent research shows that secondary consequences of war on family, social, and economic life are important predictors of psychological outcomes. Post traumatic stress disorders PTSDs have been found to increase dramatically during war as they are psychological responses to intense traumatic events, particularly which threaten life. Syria is facing a serious health problem since the number of outpatients with somatic symptoms and related disorders has increased as well as the number of inpatients with psychiatric emergencies, has also risen during Syrian crisis. The WHO emphasizes that mental health should be viewed as an integral part of public health and social welfare programs, and not as a specialist activity set apart. The Syrian society is in critical need for young medical doctors, who are specifically trained to handle psychiatric complex situations and who, are culturally attuned to their requirements, problems of peace, and human rights. It has been of critical importance to assess the current psychiatric curricula, related to stress disorders, which are delivered in Syrian medical schools. This paper presents a critical analysis to the current psychiatric curricula in Syrian Universities and suggests a new psychiatric curricula and training that need to be delivered in order to produce health professionals who are able to provide psychological first aid, problem-solving counseling, relaxation training, and mange acute behavioral emergencies in countries that suffer from conflicts and crisis. This would be of critical importance to design community-based and culturally sensitive programs and also to design recovery-oriented programs that can promote mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of people affected by crisis.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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