According to statistics from Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization, Iraq has become home to psychological illnesses that are getting worse due to the escalation of unresolved security and political issues. However, there are other reasons behind the spread of these illnesses in Iraq, including society itself.

Statistics released by Doctors Without Borders in 2006 showed 18.6% of Iraqis afflicted by psychological illnesses. Iraqi culture, however, perceives anyone who seeks psychological help as "crazy," which increases the number of cases and renders the treatment difficult.

Al-Rashad Hospital, on the outskirts of Baghdad, houses 1,300 patients suffering from different types of psychological illnesses, mainly schizophrenia and depression. The hospital is dealing with a lack of medical cadres, with only 11 doctors, as noted by the media manager of Baghdad’s Rusafa Health Department, Qassem Abdel Hadi Dayekh.

“The lack of cadres comes as a result of the low number of students enrolling in psychiatric studies in Iraq,” Dayekh told Al-Monitor.