Mental Health and Addiction Care in the Middle East

Richard Isralowitz · Patricia A. Findley

nën 2016 · Springer

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This ambitious resource describes innovative intervention programs for treating substance abuse and other mental health problems in the Middle East in the context of larger issues in the region. Deftly combining clinical acumen with in-depth knowledge of sociopolitical currents, contributors present data and analysis on similarities and differences within the region, addiction issues in special populations (youth, mothers, immigrants), and the efficacy of local and international initiatives. New trends in evidence-based responses, including mental health services in war and disaster, are related to the larger goals of promoting peace. To that end, the editors go beyond the concept of shared problems to discuss strategies toward shared solutions, most notably psychological first aid as a healing approach to mediation.

Among the topics covered:

• Drug abuse in the Middle East: promoting mutual interests through resistance and resilience.
  
• Toward uniform data collection and monitoring of Israeli and Palestinian adolescent drug use.
  
• Substance abusing mothers: toward an understanding of parenting and risk behavior.
  
• Immigration, acculturation, and drug use.
  
• Psychological first aid: a tool for mitigating conflict in the Middle East.
  
• Collaborative approaches to addressing mental health and addiction.

For health psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and addiction counselors, Mental Health and Addiction Care in the Middle East demonstrates the deep potential for mental health and social issues to be addressed to benefit all communities involved.

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Richard Isralowitz, PhD is professor and director of the Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center in the Spitzer Department of Social Work at Ben Gurion University, where he has been employed since 1982. Dr. Isralowitz received his doctoral degree at Brandeis University's Heller School of Advanced Studies for Social Policy and Management. A significant part of his academic career has been focused on networking international relations for academic purposes in the Middle East region, where he has enlisted colleagues throughout the Middle East as well as experts from universities in the USA, Europe, and elsewhere.

Patricia A Findley, DrPH, MSW is an associate professor at Rutgers University School of Social Work in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Dr. Findley received her doctoral degree at University of Illinois at Chicago from the School of Public Health, her master’s degree is from Loyola University in Chicago. Her research focuses on chronic illness and disability. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Israel, an award that launched her research into disaster relief and management through collaborations with Ben Guiron University.