Department of Psychiatry, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Subst Abus. 2021;42(3):264-265. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2021.1915919. Epub 2021 May 6.
Lebanon, a small middle-income nation in western Asia, has been crippled by decades of political turmoil and armed conflict. A "quadruple crisis" hit the country over the past years, starting with the protracted humanitarian Syrian refugee crisis, followed by a severe socioeconomic collapse, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and lastly the Beirut port catastrophic blast. With the exposure to repetitive traumatic events and associated organic brain injury, the Lebanese population has become at a higher risk of addiction, among other psychiatric comorbidities. With the scarce statistics about the topic and limited addiction services in the country, collaborative local efforts and international help are urgently needed to fight the upcoming substance use epidemic. Raising awareness, providing adequate training, and securing resources for the management of both addiction and trauma are of utmost importance.
黎巴嫩是亚洲西部的一个中等收入小国,几十年来一直深受政治动荡和武装冲突的困扰。过去几年,该国遭遇了一场“四重危机”,首先是旷日持久的叙利亚人道主义难民危机,随后是严重的社会经济崩溃、全球 COVID-19 大流行,最后是贝鲁特港口灾难性爆炸。由于反复遭受创伤性事件和相关的脑损伤,黎巴嫩民众更容易出现成瘾等精神共病。由于该主题的统计数据稀缺,国内的成瘾服务有限,因此迫切需要当地的合作和国际援助来应对即将到来的药物使用流行。提高认识、提供适当的培训以及为成瘾和创伤的管理提供资源至关重要。