ALKHOBAR: Mental health specialists meeting in Alkhobar called for earlier intervention and expanded access to psychiatric care after reviewing national data showing that Saudi patients wait a median of eight years before seeking professional help, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
More than 20 experts gathered at the Grand Hyatt Alkhobar on Saturday for the first Alkhobar Conference on Psychiatry and Mental Health, organized by the Saudi Psychiatric Association. Discussions centered on overcoming diagnostic delays and improving long-term outcomes for adolescents and adults living with mood, anxiety and psychotic disorders.
Presentations drew heavily on findings from the Saudi National Mental Health Survey, a landmark nationwide study conducted by the King Salman Center for Disability Research in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, and international partners including Harvard University and the World Health Organization.
Based on in-home interviews with 4,004 Saudi citizens aged 15 to 65, the survey found that 34 percent of Saudis meet the criteria for a mental health condition at some point in their lives. Yet only 13.7 percent of those experiencing a disorder in a given year received treatment during that same period—a figure listed at 13.6 percent in the survey’s published technical report.
Even among Saudis with severe mental health disorders, 80 percent do not seek any treatment.
