Associate Professor and Psychiatry Department Chair Dr Fadi Maalouf expects a mental health pandemic to hit Lebanon and the Middle East after the COVID crisis recedes –at a time when just 5 percent of mental health patients receive treatment, compared to 50 percent globally. In this episode he reviews the growing worry and anxiety symptoms among children and adults, and explains why schools are so critical in addressing this trend. It’s normal to experience heightened distress and negative feelings in today’s conditions, he notes, but adds that such common mental health issues are treatable. Many people do not take advantage of mental health counselling due to cost and lack of availability, not shame, he says.