Beirut, 30 July, 2020 – Interview with Wissam Kotait, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, and mental health consultant in various international organizations.
Wissam Kotait, did his first studies in Lebanon until he obtained a master’s degree in clinical psychology.
Following a field training course that became a long-term role, he wished to deepen his knowledge through further training.
With the support of the APJ, he went to France to study art therapy and psychoanalytical anthropology, where he stayed for 7 years.
Q: Where does your interest in psychology come from?
I believe that everyone, at some point in their life, must have felt an interest in this field. It’s usually related to personal issues, which was the case for me. It was particularly during my childhood and adolescence that I asked myself a lot of questions about certain behaviours that I observed and did not understand. From memory, it was first within my family and then during my last years of school that I wondered the most about relationships between people, and between individuals and society.
Q: How did you hear about the APJ?
Following my master’s degree in psychology, I started an internship in an institution working in the field of addiction. It was through this professional experience that I decided to deepen my knowledge. After some research I found training courses abroad, particularly in France. At the same time, someone in my family told me about the APJ which supports Lebanese students seeking further education and training. I submitted my file to the APJ and this led me to a university degree in art therapy. It seemed all the more interesting to me because it was not available in Lebanon. At that time, I already thought about coming back to Lebanon one day with the experience of this new theoretical approach.
Q: How were your studies in France?
From the beginning of my academic stay in Paris, I also delved into other fields of specialization such as group dynamics and psychoanalytical anthropology, while investing in various training courses around the performing arts. This was possible with the support of the APJ.
Q: What changes are you seeing in your profession?
When I was in France, I worked for an institution that accompanies migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, most of them undocumented, in their struggle for a better life. I was able to observe the involvement of mental health policies in the daily lives of different sections of the population. It’s a practice and an approach that is already well established and standardised in France.
As soon as I returned to Lebanon in 2011, the situation had already changed a great deal as a result of the various crises in the region. The war in Iraq, followed by the war in Syria, led to a large wave of forced migration and exile to Lebanon. Many national and international organizations adapted to the context to respond to the emergency situation and facilitate support services and psychological, social and legal assistance to these populations, and also to the vulnerable Lebanese who welcomed them.
The mental health awareness-raising that has done regarding the migrant populations has also resulted in greater openness and acceptance among Lebanese. This has certainly reinforced the role of the importance of these services, and led to the establishment of a mental health department within the Ministry of Public Health in the past few years, and more recently, a legal framework defining the work and training required to obtain official certification of practice.
Q: As a psychologist, what is your diagnosis of Lebanon?
Lebanon is a geographical, historical and spiritual place that is timelessly linked to a cumulation of traumatic events. These collective losses have become part of the Lebanese way of life and therefore certain questions that are existential, profound, reflective, and emotional are often relegated to the background, or doomed to be repeated, endlessly, like Sisyphus and his rock, without ever finding rest.
We are always in a stage of construction, destruction, reconstruction, and never in a stage of life, of desire, of accomplishment, strictly speaking.
Over the years, the new generations travel a lot, and bring with them another way of being in the world, of representing themselves and existing. They are therefore in some ways more in tune with their feelings and expectations, and more inclined to hope and work for change.
These new generations also bring with them the demand for their fundamental rights and ideals, related to mental health, to psychological wholeness, to constructive questioning, and therefore, to a different vision of “asking for help”.
Q: Does the current crisis have an impact on mental health?
There’s no denying that. We see it appearing in different ways but mainly through violence, grief or denial.
There has been an increase in domestic violence, violence against minors and even individual violence. The main causes are stress, anxiety and even anguish. In our patriarchal society, more and more men are losing their jobs. As a result, they are no longer able to provide the symbolic and financial support they are responsible for and lose their bearings.
There is also a parallel to be observed between the economic, political, and Covid-19 crises around the issue of mourning. Mourning is not only linked to the loss of a loved one, but can also occur in the context of a change in lifestyle. A life that will never be the same as before. This of course also applies directly to the deadly and criminal explosion that took place in Beirut on 4 August.
Lastly, psychological coping mechanisms also revolve around the issue of denial and there are many people who completely deny the reality of these crises. The accumulation of existential questions such as “what are we doing here?”, “how are we going to get out of it?”, “in which direction should we go?”, etc., take us away from the stage of accepting change. We are always in a phase of adaptation.
Q: What message would you like to convey to current students and graduates?
When I left for France, I quickly realized, when I found myself alone with the project I had embarked on, that “my own desire” had become the only thing that mattered. I had no one to blame but myself if I failed. I am convinced that an opportunity to study abroad is a very enriching experience. In that sense, if I have one thing to share with them, it is that there is nothing else that matters but being accountable to yourself. Hearing and understanding one’s own desire and setting it in motion is already an experience in itself.
Take opportunities that allow you to go out of the country to specialize, to meet other cultures, and to experiment with other ways of thinking. And once you’re there, immerse yourself in the local culture.
Q: Finally, what philosophy of life do you apply on a daily basis?
In view of my experience in artistic expression, I allow myself to be constantly amazed by everything around me, whether it be landscapes, the wind, nature, etc. I have the impression of having maintained something very childlike in me. The other thing, rather related to my background, is the concept of “resistance”. Resistance in the face of an institutional or national discourse is very important to me. You have to know how to resist in order not to fall into globality and you have to maintain your singularity while being plural and open.
