At the ACC Behavioral Health Symposium in Detroit, Dr. Abdul Kareem Alobedy, Chairman of Iraqi Association for Child Mental Health, Julie Hakim-Larson, Ph.D., University of Windsor Department of Psychology, and Dr. Weam Taktak addressed the topics of behavioral health child and adult services, and the severity of war trauma in Iraq.

Dr Alobedy stated that overall there was a serious decline in the accessibility and quality of health services in Iraq. Dr. Alobedy also covered the current situation concerning Mental Health services in Iraq: there are 100 general psychiatrists total in Iraq, which allows for a ratio of 1 psychiatrist to every 275,000 people, and limited training opportunities in mental health for other professionals. Concerning services, there are two general psychiatric hospitals in Baghdad and eighteen general psychiatric departments within general hospitals allover the country .

Dr. Hakim-Larson presented on Iraqi Americans and mental health issues. Dr. Hakim Larson concluded that Iraqi Americans show pre-migration war trauma and the post-migration stress resulting from acculturation, and high levels of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and physical symptoms. These issues may be present in a crisis and require collaboration between medical and mental health personnel. Dr. Hakim-Larson expressed the important need for additional research to address the potential effects across future generations.

Dr. Taktak described the process and services provided for Iraqi children with learning disabilities, severe handicaps, deprived children, and juvenile delinquency. The services in Iraq in the field of child mental health are very few and primitive. This is a barrier for mental health services as Iraq faces many problems, such as successive wars and all its consequences, poorly trained staff, no communications with the world, and a disrupted infra-structure.

This symposium was sponsored by ACC’s Behavioral Health Division and Wayne State University’s Department of Family Medicine and held in the interest of building relationships with various academic institutions and human services organizations, to assist in the efforts of improving the child mental health care system in Iraq.