The performing arts and psychological well-being.

Although psychotropic drugs have been hailed as, 'One of the success stories of modern psychiatry' the prescribing of these medicines has not been without commotion, concern and controversy. Moreover, the President of the World Psychiatry Association Professor Dinesh Bhugra and colleagues, after conducting a recent large-scale study (n=25,522) on psychiatric morbidity in the UK, collectively issued the clarion call that, 'The mental health of the nation was unlikely to be improved by treatment with psychotropic medication alone'. The provision of mental healthcare services may likely benefit from a holistic approach that includes a variety of treatment options that prioritizes patient safety and preference. The performing arts is gaining popularity among service users as an adjunctive form of treatment for mental illness. There is a growing body of evidence that provisionally supports the claim that art therapy, 'Possesses the power to heal psychological wounds'. The North American Drama Therapy Association defines drama therapy as, 'The intentional use of drama and/or theatre processes to achieve therapeutic goals' and that it is 'active and experiential'. This review article discusses and describes the merits of dramatherapy and how this treatment modality can contribute to a patient's recovery from psychological distress.

Lessons from psychiatry in the Arab world--a Lebanese trainee psychiatrist's qualitative views on the provision of mental healthcare services for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and an interview with a consultant psychiatrist on the effects of the Arab spring on the mental health of Libyans.

In this manuscript, a Lebanese trainee psychiatrist qualitatively analyses and discusses the provision of mental healthcare services for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. There are more than 250,000 Palestinian people sporadically dispersed in the refugee camps in Sidon, Beirut and other major cities in the Levant. Displacement, conflict, trauma, unemployment and poverty are but some of the myriad factors that influence Palestinian refugee mental health. This article traces the historical, political and socioeconomic determinants of health for Palestinians exiled in Lebanon and describes the pivotal role that the non-Govenmental Organisation Medical Aid for Palestinians is playing in helping to alleviate the psychiatric distress of Palestinian sufferers of mental illness. The latter half of the manuscript contains an interview with a consultant psychiatrist about his experiences volunteering in the war-torn lands of Libya post Arab Spring. He expounds on how he feels mental healthcare services in Libya are woefully inadequate and broaches on his perception of how the resilience and the 'family-centric' model of the Libyan people has conferred a certain degree of protection towards developing severe psychiatric illness.