Seha, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, has evaluated the psychological impact of the pandemic on health workers and the worst affected patients. Getty Images
Seha, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, has evaluated the psychological impact of the pandemic on health workers and the worst affected patients. Getty Images
Seha, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, has evaluated the psychological impact of the pandemic on health workers and the worst affected patients. Getty Images
International research studies on anxiety and depression symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic generally report large increases in the rate of clinically significant symptoms among the general population. A recent UK study, for example, suggested that 64 and 57 per cent of the 3,000 adults sampled reported significant symptom-levels of depression and anxiety, respectively. These are similar to the figures our own research team found in the UAE, with the results published in Psychiatry Research last month.
How quickly we bounce back from this situation is still an open question. Will the elevated symptoms lead to an increase in actual mental illness prevalence across our societies? And if so, what should we do about it?
The real trouble with mental health problems is that they tend to be episodic. For example, after recovering from an initial episode of depression, many of us will go on to have a second episode and then a third and then a fourth, fifth and sixth. In an article for JAMA Psychiatry, Lewis Judd, of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, suggests that people living with depression, on average, experience four major episodes across their lifetimes, with each lasting around 20 weeks.
We bounce back, but some of us only bounce back for a bit. It is almost as if, once we discover "dark places", it becomes easier to find our way back there again and again. Psychologists have termed this observation the "kindling hypothesis" – the proposition that each episode of mental illness makes another one more likely.
Mental health professionals used to debate: which works better, pills (antidepressants and anxiolytics) or talk therapy? We now know, however, that was totally the wrong question. For depression at least, both treatments are roughly equal over the short term. The critical question, however, is which treatment leads to a longer-lasting recovery, and which one is associated with lower relapse rates?
Even compared to maintenance treatment with pills (long-term antidepressant use), talk-based psychological therapies are associated with lower rates of relapse. In therapy, we learn new ways to cope with and relate to the bumps in life's road. We might also develop better defences against the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune (the bad stuff that just happens).
It is hard to see what learning, if any, takes place by consuming antidepressants. However, this pharmacological approach can help many people weather the storm until it passes.
This longer-term benefit of talk therapies – treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy – has led to an increased investment aimed at improving access to such evidence-based psychological approaches. The UK government, for example, under the banner "no health without mental health", invested £400 million from 2010-15. The aim of this investment was to ensure that "every adult that requires it should have access to psychological therapies to treat anxiety disorders or depression".
The Abu Dhabi government recently set up a hotline to help safeguard mental health during the pandemic. The programme, one of many, involves trained responders offering essential information, and, crucially, lending a compassionate ear to people struggling to cope with the outbreak.
These are good initiatives. But even the best talk-therapies still have troubling relapse rates. In some studies of depression and anxiety, the relapse rate at six months can be as high as 50 per cent.
According to Carl Jung, those who learn to live amicably with their demons gain from their experience. Alamy Stock Photo
This has led psychologists to develop programmes that are specifically aimed at relapse prevention and, better still, primary prevention – preventing illness before it ever occurs. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy are two leading examples of this prevention-orientated approach. Their popularity is rooted in their success.
Individuals who make lasting recoveries from mental health problems, those who learn to live amicably with their demons, and make peace with despair, what do they gain from their experience?
Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud's one-time protege, certainly thought they gained a lot. In his autobiography titled Memories, Dreams, Reflections, he wrote: "Only the wounded physician heals... and then only to the extent he has healed himself." Jung was referring to the idea that the most successful healers or therapists draw on the knowledge of their own hurt to help others. Those who have recovered from psychological wounds are well placed to help others.
This brings to mind the novelist Matt Haig, who after experiencing a suicidal episode of depression in his twenties, went on to write the No 1 bestseller, Reasons to Stay Alive. Haig describes books as being like antidepressants. His own works of fiction have provided solace and healing for millions.
Kanye West, like many other artists, has described his bipolar disorder as a superpower. AP Photo
Similarly, the experience of being overwhelmed by emotions can be associated with great works of visual art. The poet Charlotte Smith once wrote: "Those paint sorrow best who feel it most." Echoing this sentiment, on his 2018 album Ye, the billionaire rapper Kanye West refers to his experience of bipolar disorder as a superpower rather than a disability. This is an idea that echoes across continents and down through the ages. For example, the 12th-century Benedictine abbess, Hildegard Von Bingen, today celebrated as Europe's first-known female composer and one of the greatest European poets of the medieval period, experienced bouts of deep melancholia, a condition roughly equivalent to contemporary mood disorders.
We often talk about mental health problems as enemies to be overcome and vanquished. However, perhaps we could also look at them as teachers to be heeded, or gifts we have yet figured out how to use. Once we learn the lessons and harness these gifts, our recoveries will be longer-lasting, and we will have been refined by our journey.
Justin Thomas is a professor of psychology at Zayed University
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood. Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues. Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity. Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
