Dr. Ahmed Okasha Discusses Trauma Trans-Cultural Aspects at the BA
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Alexandria—
As part of "The Management of Trauma among Children, Adolescents and the Community" Conference, two lectures by Dr. Ahmed Okasha and James Leckman took place at the BA on Saturday, 12 May 2007. The Conference is organized by the Institute for Peace Studies, in collaboration with The Preventive Child Mental Health Association in Egypt and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Ahmed Okasha discussed in his lecture entitled "Trauma Trans-Cultural Aspects" early diagnosis and treatment of psychological cases among children, whether psychiatric, behavioral disorders, or learning disabilities.
Dr. Ahmed Okasha, Professor of Psychiatry, spoke on his experience in working with the World Psychiatric Association Presidential Global Program on Child Mental Health in Collaboration with The World Health Organization (WHO) and The International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). He added that parents, teachers, media men, pediatrics, and psychiatrists do not really realize the severity of the problem, 20 % of world children and adolescents suffer from psychiatric diseases, and 3-4% are afflicted by serious disorders that need immediate treatment, given that half of the world population are children and adolescents.
Okasha explained what is known as "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)" and added that around 8% of any people of the world are afflicted by such disorder, 60-80% of which are children, especially those who are subject to beating, cruelty, and sexual harassment from parents or at school.
He stated that studies on trauma were conducted in Palestine and Lebanon after Qana Massacres, but none were conducted in Iraq yet, because more than 2.5 million Iraqi were displaced, two thirds of which are children. Around 91 % of diplomats and American soldiers, who returned from the Gulf and Iraq War suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
On school drop outs and street children, Okasha said that studies in Cairo and Alexandria proven that 36 % of street children run out of their homes, as a result of family disintegration, which is the main cause of the addiction of 60% of children.
In his Lecture "The Intrapsychic and Intergenerational Legacy of Fear, Anger, and Retribution ", Dr. J. Leckman from the USA spoke on the intrapsychic impact of traumas, referring to the importance of controlling brain signals at the time of attacks. He said that Islam stresses in many Hadiths (Prophet Sayings) and Koran verses on warding off the evil with the good and he quoted several Hadiths (Prophet Sayings) and Koran verse on that meaning. He also quoted some Buddha sayings urging the same principle.
On the fringe lines of the Conference, two workshops were held, participated by a group of Arab and Egyptian media men. The first, entitled "The Impact of Mass Media on the Development and Management of Trauma", discussed the role of mass media in treating traumas and strategies of posting news related to them. The second was entitled "Decision Makers’ Policies in the Management of Trauma at Different levels of Society".