DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – In recent years, Syria’s psychiatry and psychological treatment sector has witnessed a sharp rise in unqualified practitioners, sparking debate about the profession’s transformation into an unregulated commercial activity. The spread of unlicensed clinics underscores a serious problem: the absence of professional standards and effective oversight, which has allowed individuals with little or no academic training to provide therapeutic services.
Ministry responsibility
Damascus resident Sara Anis blamed the Ministries of Social Affairs and Labor, and Health, for failing to curb the phenomenon. Speaking to North Press, she noted that the current environment enables “anyone who completes a two-day or one-week course to start practicing psychological treatment—and often making harmful mistakes.”
Anis stressed the urgent need for strict laws requiring at least a specialized university degree, alongside tighter ministerial supervision. “There should be clear laws regulating this field. Practitioners must at least hold specialized certificates, and the ministry must enforce stricter oversight,” she said, warning that the lack of standards poses direct risks to patients’ safety.
Social and economic dimensions
Ranim Matouq, a lecturer at Damascus University, linked the issue to both social and economic conditions. She explained that weak societal awareness of mental health, coupled with widespread financial hardship, has created demand for low-cost but unqualified practitioners.
“The percentage of Syrians who can afford a psychiatrist is very low,” she told North Press. “When you advise someone to seek professional treatment, they often respond that there are more urgent priorities than spending large sums on doctors and medications. People focus on securing their family’s basic needs, which they consider far more important than mental health care.”
She explained that a large proportion of Syrians cannot afford the costs of formal psychotherapy sessions, which drives them to seek cheaper alternatives offered by unqualified individuals.
Danger of unqualified practice
For his part, Hossam Shahada, a specialist in psychological support and licensing official at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, said the problem was compounded by the absence of licensing opportunities for graduates of psychology and education faculties. This vacuum, he noted, opened the door for untrained individuals—often with certificates from unrecognized online courses—to practice psychotherapy illegally, resulting in serious professional errors.
He emphasized that providing psychological support, particularly to refugees, survivors, and in times of natural or man-made disasters, requires highly trained specialists. “A psychotherapist does not have the authority to prescribe medications,” Shahada cautioned, underscoring the sensitivity of the profession.
New licensing measures
Shahada revealed that a new draft decision—approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor—will allow graduates of education and psychology faculties to license psychological support and treatment centers. The measure, drafted in cooperation with the Ministries of Health and Education in 2023, was delayed due to bureaucratic disputes and conflicting interests.
He added that oversight of illegal practices had declined significantly after 2017, due to the war and loss of regime control in some regions, allowing unqualified practitioners to proliferate. “Unfortunately, since 2017 there has been no effective oversight. The crisis and instability caused the situation to spiral out of control in many areas,” he said.
Shahada confirmed that stricter regulations will be enforced within the next two years to prevent unqualified individuals from working in psychological support. “Counseling and psychiatric work is extremely delicate. Those who complete short courses lasting only a few weeks or months do not have the competence required to practice this profession,” he stressed.
He further noted that new conditions for licensing will include strict requirements related to facilities—such as location, lighting, and ventilation—alongside the academic qualifications of staff and prohibitions governing professional practice.
Shahada concluded by recalling that in countries such as Lebanon and Egypt, psychology and education graduates have long been able to open licensed counseling centers, whereas in Syria this path was blocked—until now.