The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Faith Healers and Psychiatric Illnesses: A Systematic Review of the Literature in the Arab World.

Faith healing is a traditional healing method involving spiritual and faith-based practices performed by a religious medicine man referred to here as a faith healer. The practice of faith healing is widespread in the Arab World for treating a range of mental disorders. This research aims to review the literature concerned with faith healing practice in the Muslim Arab population. Based on the results of the review, there are seven distinct aspects of faith healing. These include the characteristics of persons who visit faith healers, the rate of visits, the symptoms for which visits are made, the treatment methods, the general stigma and prevalent attitudes toward mental disorders in the Arab world, and the perceived effectiveness of faith healing as applied to mental disorders. The results of the review show that many patients with mental disorders, as a first resort, prefer to seek the help of faith healers (or other non-professional trusted counselors) rather than approach mental health services. This is due to several factors: the misconceptions around causes of mental illness in Arab traditions and culture and the stigma associated with mental illness. As an overall determination derived from the literature, Arabs remain highly reliant on faith healers as helpful resources for dealing with mental health problems. In conclusion, the recommendation to public health authorities is to consider including faith healers in the support system for mental health and cease viewing them as barriers to optimal care.

Prevalence and associated factors of binge eating disorder among Bahraini youth and young adults: a cross-sectional study in a self-selected convenience sample.

BACKGROUND: Binge eating disorder (BED) is defined as recurrent ingestion of an unusually large amount of food in a discrete period of time. BED has the highest prevalence of all eating disorders. Studies have shown a strong relationship between BED and both physical and psychological factors such as obesity, depression and anxiety. This research aimed to report the prevalence and associated factors of BED among Bahrainis (aged 15-30 years). METHODS: A total of 959 participants (aged 15-30 years) completed self-administered online questionnaires. BED was measured using the binge eating disorder Screener-7. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and General Anxiety Disorder-7 were used to measure depression and anxiety, respectively. RESULTS: Out of all participants, 21.2% had binge eating symptoms. A higher BMI, a restricted diet, depression and anxiety were associated with more frequent binge eating symptoms. Out of all associated factors, depression had the strongest association with binge eating, (rp = 0.371, p < 0.0001). However, sociodemographic variables including age and other medical conditions were not significantly associated with BED symptoms. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the prevalence of BED symptoms was significantly high among the study participants. The results point out the crucial role of awareness of the interaction between obesity, depression and anxiety as potential risk factors for binge eating tendencies. Further research should examine their relationship with BED.

Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder characterized by the consumption of a large amount of food in a short period of time with loss of control over stopping accompanied by emotional stress during the episode. Studies have identified multiple risk factors that may contribute to binge eating, including lifestyle, psychological well-being of the individual, stress, genetics, family history, age and sex. The current study examined binge eating symptoms among adolescents and young adults aged 15­30 years to estimate the prevalence of the disorder in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Furthermore, participants were tested for depression and anxiety to investigate whether they were associated with the disorder. The results revealed that approximately one-fifth of the participants had binge eating symptoms. A high body mass index, depression and anxiety were significantly associated with binge eating symptoms. We hope this study will be reliable for use in epidemiological studies and further research.