A Comparison of Mental Health in the United States and Morocco: A Literature Review and Summary of Responses by Students

Abstract

This review article is based on a partnership between the University of Minnesota and the Hassan II University Hospital Center in a virtual internship. I have compiled my experiences, the experiences of a surgeon in Morocco, studies on mental health in both countries, and two questionnaires that were completed by students in both countries into a report of the differences and similarities in mental health in the two countries and recommendations for improvement for each. We have found that, there is a similar rate of burnout of physicians in the two countries, around 40%, the rate of mental health conditions is higher in Morocco, at 48.9%, than the United States, at 20.6%, and that there are more barriers to accessing mental health care in Morocco for many complex reasons, for example less funding for psychological units and a culture of mental health stigmatization. Based on these results, we recommend that for Morocco, it is essential to create a strong and national system to combat the stigma of mental health conditions and increase access to mental health resources, which may lead to more psychological units for students in schools and more psychologists in hospitals on-site for psychological assessments on demand that will be needed when the stigma around mental health is reduced. For the United States, we recommend that even more resources are necessary for mental health, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, when safe, for students to return to in-person classes, as students indicate many difficulties with online learning during COVID-19.