Mental Health and Addiction Care in the Middle East

Richard Isralowitz, PhD is professor and director of the Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center in the Spitzer Department of Social Work at Ben Gurion University, where he has been employed since 1982. Dr. Isralowitz received his doctoral degree at Brandeis University's Heller School of Advanced Studies for Social Policy and Management. A significant part of his academic career has been focused on networking international relations for academic purposes in the Middle East region, where he has enlisted colleagues throughout the Middle East as well as experts from universities in the USA, Europe, and elsewhere.Patricia A Findley, DrPH, MSW is an associate professor at Rutgers University School of Social Work in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Dr. Findley received her doctoral degree at University ofIllinois at Chicago from the School of Public Health, her master’s degree is from Loyola University in Chicago. Her research focuses on chronic illness and disability. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Israel, an award that launched her research into disaster relief and management through collaborations with Ben Guiron University.

• ​Introduction to the Middle East Region.- Substance abuse and addiction history.- theoretical considerations of resilience and resistance activities including adjustment and acculturation.- Drug Use and Addiction.- Current patterns and problems of drug use among the Israeli and Palestinian people.- Model intervention strategies (Middle East/US SAMHSA RADAR Center Development; UCLA Matrix Model; Addiction Severity Index; Project EX; IMAGE' HCV infectious disease prevention, etc.).- Religiosity: preventing drug use among high school students.- School drop outs and drug treatment: an avaluation.- Immigration and acculturaiton: female addicts from the former Soviet Union.- Mental Health and Emergency Conditions: Promoting Human Resources Development.- Resilience in emergency conditions (psychological first aid; caeworkers' needs; intervention strategies for children, parents, and teachers; Internet web site for addressing emergency mental health needs of children, parents, and teachers).- Resilience and response to emergency conditions through psychological first aid (Israeli perspectives; Palestinian perspectives).- Conclusion: Final thoughts on two decades of mental health and addiciton development efforts.