I wrote: Najwa Taha
Within the framework of enhancing the role of technology in mental health, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s interest in promoting the mental health of community members through interactive platforms, which contribute to educating them regarding the importance of positive and purposeful use of technology, the Labayh platform launched – labayh For psychotherapy, an initiative under the title “Your psychology is more important” to promote mental health, through which it provides (free tests) psychological measures (measurements of anxiety and depression) to users of the platform, as they are the most common diseases affecting mental health.
In this context, Bassem Al-Biladi, co-founder and CEO of Labbeh platform, stressing the importance of mental health education and awareness campaigns targeting different ages, and its importance to the individual and society, said: “To this day, the stigma towards psychological treatment still dominates the thoughts of many, as statistics show that 52% of those in need of psychological care decided to overcome it on their own rather than seeking appropriate psychological care.
The “Your Psychology is Most Important” initiative to promote early diagnosis of mental health diseases coincides with the action plan and the comprehensive vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2030, which all member states of the World Health Organization are committed to implementing, with the aim of improving mental health by drawing up and implementing plans aimed at promoting mental health. The Labeh platform reflects an effort to provide mental health services and comprehensive and integrated social care in community environments, in addition to directing more attention to mental health issues and the problems faced by individuals and groups of society, given that mental health is an integral part of the public health system.
Al-Biladi stated: “The Labbeh platform has so far registered 1.2 million users, and according to the data received from users’ answers to the application’s psychological measures, more than 345,000 users have tested anxiety. “. With regard to the depression test, regarding 417,000 users were subjected to it, and the data revealed that approximately 118,000 people had experienced a “high probability of depression” level.
He added, the work movement in Labia is in full swing, to reduce the spread of negative psychological phenomena, especially those that have spread recently in societies, to change citizens’ misconceptions and to remove the stigma from mental illness. Therefore, Labaih provides its users with the ability to face the challenges related to their mental health through an innovative tool, and thus will help them lead a positive lifestyle and more activate the role of technology in our lives.”
For his part, Mazen Al-Rakini, Executive Director of Technology and Growth at Labaih platform, said: “Over the past few years, Labaih platform has made a radical and tangible change in the world of mental health and made great strides to improve the life of society. Through the platform, we have developed guidelines and developed new tools to improve mental health.” To enable individuals to diagnose early symptoms of various mental illnesses, to reach everyone who wants help and to decide for treatment to change their lives for the better, to raise psychological awareness and confront societal stigma, and to provide mental health services and comprehensive and integrated social care.”
He added that depression and anxiety are the most common mental disorders, and the loss of productivity resulting from them costs the global economy regarding $ 1 trillion annually, in addition to that governments allocate less than 2% of their national budgets to mental health. Therefore, we provide, through the platform, a set of standardized questions that initially help people assess their condition and know the current level of infection so that the specialist can provide better service.
Al-Rakini pointed out that the plan of the Labaih platform aims to enrich Arabic content on mental health in order to raise awareness and help everyone to spread hope and improve the lifestyle. The “Your Psychology is Most Important” initiative of Labeyah platform is an important and continuous step to spread positivity and optimism among the citizens of the Kingdom, with the aim of supporting mental health for different age groups, and an emphasis on the prominent role of initiatives and programs concerned with mental health and instilling a culture of recovery from mental disorders and rehabilitation, which contributes to Improving the quality of life of citizens and facing the changes that occur in societies.
