one god, many wars: religious dimensions of armed conflict in the middle east and north africa

Further, in light of the political conditions that some Arab countries are going through and the negative effects that they cause, it has become necessary to use the method of prevention that is the focus of PP and not only of treatment as a strategy for applications and practise.

Thus, to properly address this cultural stigma against mental health problems, PPIs could provide an additional role alongside traditional psychology approaches (e.g., Cognitive Behavioural therapy - CBT). Prevalent stigma, war and conflict were some of the contributors (Maalouf et al., 2019).

Culture can play a very important role in enhancing PPIs engagement, acceptability, and eventually, effectiveness (Hendriks and Graafsma, 2019).Īrab countries, home to 5% of the world's population, have a burden of mental health problems above global levels ( GBD 2015 Eastern Mediterranean Region Mental Health Collaborators, 2018). Therefore, they may not be as effective in other countries such as the Arab countries where there are various cultural differences. While the ratio of non-Western to Western randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating PPIs has improved quite dramatically in the past decade, most of these studies (82%) remain narrow in focus in terms of the culture of their participants, having been developed and tested in Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic (WEIRD) countries (Hendriks et al., 2019). In a recent review of 347 studies, PPIs had a significant effect on promoting quality of life and well-being and reducing anxiety and depression (Carr et al., 2020). Extensive research on Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs)-defined as activities that focus on promoting positive feelings, thoughts, or behaviour (Sin and Lyubomirsky, 2009)-has been found to be generally effective in promoting well-being and reducing mental illness (e.g., Chakhssi et al., 2018 Hendriks et al., 2020).

One god, many wars: religious dimensions of armed conflict in the middle east and north africa