Days following the commemoration of the “World Mental Health Day”, which falls on the tenth of October of each year, and coinciding with the announcement of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in Morocco to organize the “Second National Campaign to Combat Stigmatization of Persons Suffering from Mental and Mental Disorders”, between 17 and 27 October 2022, Under the slogan “Mental disorders are a medical condition.. Dignity and rights belong to you and to me.” A sensitization and communication meeting was held on Monday evening in Rabat on the topic “Mental and mental health in the time of social communication”.
The symposium, which brought together researchers and doctors in psychology, as well as well-known activists on social media, and was organized by the World Health Organization in Morocco, in partnership with the “Shifa platform”, sheds light on mental disorders in the time of social communication, especially among children and adolescents.
Mariam Beghdali, representative of the World Health Organization in Morocco, warned in her intervention of behavioral disorders resulting from addiction to social media; She pointed out that the youth “should take his life back, following it was snatched from him by social media and he became a prisoner of it.”
In her talk on “The Screen Effect,” Picdaley said; She pointed to the association with the image and its strong momentum, especially during quarantine periods, which caused “addictive behaviors” among most social network users.
The representative of “OMS” in the Kingdom regretted “the same effect that is creeping towards the elderly,” and what she said was the “infodémie pandemic” that swept the world in parallel with the epidemic.
Begdaly also emphasized that “the use of social media and the monitoring of addiction to it remains subject to a joint responsibility towards consumers of social media.” This is in light of the absence of any figures that monitor the phenomenon quantitatively and qualitatively in Moroccan social circles.
In response to a question for Hespress, during the activities of the same activity, the spokeswoman confirmed the existence of cooperation with other international organizations concerned with mental and psychological health, saying: “We have a global program directed at adolescents specifically regarding their addiction to communication sites,” before noting that it aims to “education on the media.” Modern social communication through the formation of teachers and parents alike.
The same speaker concluded that it is “a coordinated system with intertwined responsibilities in order to plead for the right to good psychological and mental health.” Conclusion: “It must be worked on carefully due to the important role that has become occupied by those described as influencers in virtual communication spaces.”
In turn, Dr. Salma Azzawi, a specialist in medicine and psychiatry in Rabat, expressed her “thanks to the organizers of this meeting and the opportunity to discuss a topic that we do not talk much regarding”; She stressed that “the first culprits in the lack of awareness are the psychiatrists themselves and those with specialization and field.”
In her intervention, Azzawi mentioned figures indicating the lack of mental and mental health care in Morocco, through the lack of medical frameworks and specialized hospitals regionally, and added: “The number of doctors must be doubled 3 times to reach the global average.”
The same doctor elaborated on the factors of deteriorating mental and mental health, stressing that social media is part of the causes and not a direct cause, attributing the matter in depth to individuals being affected by factors “a genetic genetic environment that is a fertile breeding ground for the spread of mental illness; Which means biological fragility,” she described.
Azzawi also stressed that the environment factor remains crucial in a direct relationship to mental and psychological disorders; She pointed out that “watching a video, for example, may change a person’s life and cause him disturbances, provided that he is capable.”
“There are cases every week that I receive in my clinic related to psychological disorders related to the use of social media,” the same psychiatrist records, noting that the main reason is due to people’s desire to “search for appreciation in the social media, to compensate for the lack of appreciation and self-confidence.” .
Azzawi concluded that “the impact of social media on mental and psychological health is on the rise continuously, following it was exacerbated by the Corona pandemic,” noting that “the majority of the disorders that were recorded manifested in an increase in depression and anxiety rates,” explaining the matter by the isolation experienced by members of society, and “ Its impact on a person’s self-esteem and the nature of his communication with others.”
The Ministry of Health and Social Protection defines mental illness as “a disease like any other disease, recognized as such by the World Health Organization, and it arises from a combination of genetic, biological and environmental factors and personal life experiences,” considering mental disorders “a public health problem.” .
It is noteworthy that, according to the same ministry’s data, 48.9 percent of Moroccans aged 15 years and over suffer from one or more mental disorders; 26.5 percent suffer from anxiety disorders, and 6.5 percent suffer from mental disorders.
