Background: The WHO reports that anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders worldwide. Most
people who experience such events recover from it; however, people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
continue to be severely depressed and anxious for several months or even years following the event. Palestinians
are particularly at a higher risk for developing anxiety disorders and PTSD due to the continuous exposure to
political violence, prolonged displacement, and other limitation on professional, educational, financial opportunities,
and mental health services. This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the literature and established studies
concerning Anxiety disorders besides PTSD in Palestine.
Methods: PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar was used to search for materials for the critical analysis of
empirical articles. The following aspects were taken into consideration: study type, sample, and key findings.
Results: In this review, we included about twenty-four studies from Palestine (West Bank and Gaza). Five studies
relate to children, five relate to adolescents, three relate to women, three relate to physical diseases, and four relate
to gender and age differences. Results show that anxiety disorders and PTSD are one of the most common mental
disorders in Palestine. Anxiety and PTSD develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, personality,
and life events. They are mostly associated with low quality of life and disability. The results indicate that a
significant proportion of Palestinian experiencing serious issues that deal with several challenges, distinct barriers
including; inconsistent availability of medications, absence of multidisciplinary teamwork, insufficient specialists,
fragmented mental health system, and occupation.
Conclusion: As primary prevention, the occupation has to have considered as the main source of anxiety and
other mental health disorders in Palestine. Besides, there is a need to implement a mental health care system
through multidisciplinary work and raising awareness regarding the prevalence of mental disorders.
Keywords: Anxiety disorder, Anxiety, PTSD, Palestine, Gaza strip, West Bank

Title

BMC Psychiatry

Publisher

Springer

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

3.0

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

16

Year

2020

Pages

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