The Mental Health and Addiction Control Committee, emanating from the Care and Service Committee, organizedHoly Synod Its sixteenth annual conference at St. Mark’s House in Al-Khattabah under the title “Personality Disorders and their Repercussions on the Individual and the Family after Corona”, from the third to the fifth of this March, with the participation of 220 priests, servants and maids representing 37 parishes of the Diocese of the See of St. Mark in Egypt.
His Eminence Bishop Michael, General Bishop and Rapporteur of the Mental Health and Addiction Control Committee, opened the conference with a lecture entitled “Spirituality and Psychological Development”, before which the Committee’s Secretary, Reverend Shenouda Mounir, the Committee’s Secretary, gave a comprehensive presentation of the activities carried out by the Committee.
The topics of the conference presented by a group of specialists in the field of mental health were as follows:
1- Small self and its effects on the family – Father Daoud Lamei.
2- Patterns of Personality Disorder – Father Ibrahim Riyad.
3- Mechanisms of personality formation – Rev. Moussa Fathi.
4- Getting rid of undesirable habits by the method of compassion (NVC) in the light of neuroscience – Dr. Ahmed Dbee’.
5- Borderline and Obsessive Personality Disorder – Dean of Doctor Mohamed Diab.
6- Dialectical behavioral therapy skills – Dr. Heba Allah Sobhi.
7- The repercussions of the post-Corona world on the family – Dr. Samia Qadri.
8- The family between mental health and mental disorder – Amal William.
9- Suicide during the Corona epidemic – Dr. Abram Fawzy.
A group of research papers were also discussed by small groups of participants in the conference, which included the following topics:
1- Methods of coping with stress and its relationship to death anxiety among a sample of people recovering from the Corona virus (a comparative predictive study) – Manal Salama
2- Training on integrative cognitive-behavioral therapy: skills for managing negative emotions associated with the coronavirus (practical experience from a specialist in psychological support in isolation hospitals) – Irene Saleh
3- The psychological and social effects of the Corona epidemic and how to deal with it – Ramy Adel
On the sidelines of the conference, Reverend Rafael Ramzy was honored for obtaining a doctorate in mental health from Cairo University.
The conference concluded with the following recommendations:
Acceptance of people with personality disorders as distinct persons who must be placed in the appropriate responsibility for them in society.
– Raising community awareness of mental health and rejecting the stigma of mental illness.
Early detection of personality disorders and referral to specialists for treatment.
– Starting specialized courses in therapeutic schools (ACT – DBT – CBT) to train specialists in therapeutics (psychiatrists and psychosocial specialists).
Focusing on positive education and creating generations of mentally healthy people (the first five years of a child’s life).
Preparing programs for the prevention and protection of mental health for adolescents.
Studying the possibility of creating a hotline and preparing a specialized team to receive calls from those who suffer from suicidal tendencies.
– Studying the addition of some mental health topics in the upcoming course on association and early detection of troubled personalities.
Focusing on highly troubled families and balanced families in order to bring them to the healthy family model.
In conclusion, the attendees sent a message of thanks and appreciation to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II for his interest, encouragement and support for all mental health services and recovery from addictive behaviors in the church and society.