About IDRAAC

IDRAAC is a non-profit, non-governmental organiztion that was officially founded by experts in the field of mental health in 1997. IDRAAC members have been conducting research since 1982. At that time, the founding members of IDRAAC were faced
with a grim reality: there was no data on mental health disorders in Lebanon, nor
any available assessment tools to assess the prevalence of these disorders (on a large scale). Above all, the Lebanon wars had been ravaging the country for five years and there was little knowledge about their effect on the mental health of the population.
IDRAAC's main mission is to promote research in mental health, to increase public awareness, and to participate in the improvement of training and educational programs in
mental health. In an effort to fulfill its mission, IDRAAC aims to meet the following objectives:

·Increase public awareness on mental health of the Lebanese and the Arab speaking public at large.

·Guide community members on how to identify, deal with, and overcome mental disorders.

·Offer services to individuals and communities.

·Implement community intervention programs addressing various aspects of mental health.

·Reach out to policy makers to address mental health on the national level.

·Conduct and promote research in mental health on national, regional and international levels.

·Develop adapt suitable instruments for research in Lebanon and the Arab region.

·Train professionals in the practice and research of mental health.

IDRAAC's members have been involved in many national and international studies, targeting different segments of the population (children, adolescents, adults, orphans,
university students, patients, general community…) and assessing different types of mental health conditions, (including depression, anxiety disorders, suicidality, substance use, ADHD, etc). IDRAAC relies mainly on the benevolent support of institutions and individuals who believe in the necessity of scientific research in mental health and the public education in that field. IDRAAC has a sister institution, the Medical Institute for Neuropsychological Disorders (M.I.N.D.), which focuses  on providing clinical services to the public. The majority of the psychiatrists and psychologists working at M.I.N.D. are also actively involved in  research at IDRAAC. Additionally, most IDRAAC and MIND members are part of the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at the St. George University Medical Center and Balamand University Faculty of Medicine.

Spreading awareness

Besides the specialized activities and interventions that IDRAAC conducts, below  are some of the activities that our group has undertaken to spread awareness about mental health in the past year.
·Organizing workshops, seminars and interviews with the media about mental health topics, guiding community members on how to identify, deal with, and overcome mental disorders.
·Training of parents and social workers to use appropriate
interventions with children who have behavioral problems.
·Participating in health fairs in order to offer mental health screening for the public and orient them towards the appropriate ways to deal with the mental health problems.
·Dedicating a hotline for callers which we announced on TV and radio. Members of IDRAAC, who are specialists in the mental
health field are offering trauma counseling services to people exposed to traumatic events, after this last war chapter.
·Covering of all the psychiatric care that "Médecins sans Frontières" (Doctors without Borders) was providing to the thousands of
refugees. Helping people, answering their questions and giving general preventive directions for mental health care by appearing several
times a week, on a popular radio show.
·Communicating valuable scientific data about mental health topics, by posting on  the website articles, and information useful
to the public. Please visit our website www.idraac.org to check the posted information on important mental health topics.

Visit IDRAAC’s New Website!

IDRAAC recently redesigned its website. This new website offers a wealth of information on Mental Health in Lebanon and the Arab World for both the professionals
and the public.
·Visit the Research section where you can read about the various studies undertaken by IDRAAC over the last 2 decades.
·Visit the Training activities section to discover the various training opportunities available at IDRAAC.
·Discover the various Services that IDRAAC has offered to the community.
·Learn specifically about what we found on the effects of War and Mental Health.
·Our website also provides you with many links to various international organizations andacademic centers specialized in Mental Health as well as links to other resources for patient centered information on commonly encountered problems.
·Click on the “Mental Health Research in the Arab World” and find a wealth of information
that this database offers.You can search studies relevant to Mental Health in all Arab countries from 1966 until the present.
·Finally, you can join the friends of IDRAAC and receive regular updates from IDRAAC. Visit Get involved
·Visit our website: www.idraac.org


IDRAAC Supporters

· Price Waterhouse Coopers is the official audit consultant of IDRAAC’s financial expenditure.
· The special fundraising board for the L.E.B.A.N.O.N Survey:

The L.E.B.A.N.O.N. Survey Study Board:
We would like to thank sincerely the following people who had a capital role in helping IDRAAC in carrying out the L.E.B.A.N.O.N Survey in its most difficult phases. The time and money the following have dedicated to IDRAAC is exemplary. Inspite of their very limited schedules, The L.E.B.A.N.O.N Survey Seed Board met regularly over 2 years time to infuse essential support for the researchers to carry on their work:

· Mr. Moustafa Assad
· Mr. Ibrahim Eid
· Mr. Charles El-Hage
· Mr. Bernard Fattal
· Mr. Maurice Sehnaoui
· Mr. Nicolas Sehnaoui

A complete list of IDRAAC supporters can
be found on our website.

Thank you.