Under the slogan “Health and Wellness for All,” the Sharjah Social Services Department organized the third mental health symposium on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, at the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park. In her opening speech, Maryam Al-Qaseer, Director of the Social Education Department, stressed the necessity of awareness of the importance of mental health, calling for working together to spread understanding and care for mental health and to help each other live healthy and happy lives. Al Quseir said: “Mental health is considered a very important matter in the United Arab Emirates, and in the whole world, and it is of great importance for many reasons, including personal well-being, as it plays a decisive role in the quality of an individual’s life. It also contributes to increasing happiness and personal satisfaction, and also affects Productivity and performance through good psychological processes that enhance this aspect in society and work, and also affect the promotion of positive social interaction and healthy relationships between individuals. It will also protect against diseases because it affects stress and psychological tension. Therefore, the UAE pays great attention to mental health and works to develop psychological care services, as many initiatives and programs have been launched to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and provide appropriate support to individuals.” Maryam Al-Qaseer also discussed the role of mental health in achieving quality of life, which means the individual’s satisfaction with various aspects of his life and an important goal in developing societies. She said that quality of life is affected by making correct decisions, the daily performance of social relationships, dealing with stress, in addition to emotional balance, noting that health Psychological affects a person's daily life, and this includes social relationships and physical health. Our optimal mental health ensures emotional, psychological and social well-being because it determines how we think, feel and behave. It also helps determine how we deal with stress, interact with others, and make good decisions. The mental health of the elderly. An elite group of specialist doctors and therapists participated in the forum, who presented working papers on how to enhance the mental health of the elderly and psychological crises, presented by Dr. Salwa Al-Suwaidi, Consultant in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine, in which she focused on the relationship between the elderly and mental illnesses such as depression. Dementia or Alzheimer's are among the most dangerous diseases among this segment, noting that according to the World Health Organization, more than 20% of adults aged 60 years and above suffer from a psychological or neurological disorder, while neuropsychiatric disorders in the elderly are responsible for 6.6% of Total cases of total disability. With regard to risk factors related to mental health problems among the elderly, there are multiple social, psychological, and biological factors that determine the level of a person’s mental health at any moment in time, in addition to the typical life pressures common among all people. Many of them lose their ability to live independently, due to... have limited mobility, chronic pain, weakness, or other psychological or physical problems, and need some form of long-term care. The elderly are more likely to suffer from incidents such as feelings of sadness and mourning, or a decline in social and economic status in light of retirement or disability, and all of these factors can lead to isolation, loss of independence, feelings of loneliness, and psychological distress in the elderly. With regard to depression, there is a lack of both diagnosis and treatment in health care settings, and the symptoms of depression in the elderly are often overlooked and not treated because they coincide with other problems faced by the elderly. Al-Suwaidi presented a group of symptoms that reveal that the elderly are suffering from depression, which are: Increasing or unexplained pain, feelings of anxiety and fear, memory difficulties and problems, loss of enthusiasm and energy for activities or even duties, slowness in movement and speech, irritability and nervousness, and loss of interest in personal care. Older adults with depressive symptoms also perform poorer than those with chronic medical conditions; Such as lung disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes, and it worsens health conditions and increases health care costs. As for senility, it is a syndrome in which there is a deterioration in memory, thinking, behavior, and the ability to perform daily activities. It mainly affects elderly people, although it is not a normal part of aging. The Director of the Social Education Department said: “The statistics of the Alzheimer’s International Organization (ADI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that the number of cases of this disease worldwide amounted to 35.6 million patients during the year 2010, and this number is expected to rise during the year 2030 to 65.7 million, then to 115 million.” In 2050.” This disease is also the most expensive to combat, as the cost of treating it in advanced industrial countries reaches $600 billion annually globally, equivalent to 1% of the global gross product. The mental health of the child. Dr. Amal Abdel Mawla, Director of the Al Firdous Center for Rehabilitation of People of Determination in Sharjah, a mental health consultant, presented the topic of family stability and its relationship to the mental health of the child. It requires permanent balance and flexible harmony with the self and the environment so that the child is stable and compatible psychologically and socially, in addition to feeling happy with himself and with others. others, it is also the ability to achieve self-actualization, and to exploit self-skills and competencies to the maximum extent possible, and the components of psychological health are the human ability to achieve balance in all different aspects of life and achieve independence, competence and worth, and achieve internal harmony, which includes self-satisfaction and self-confidence without a feeling of inferiority. The ability to face the various pressures and difficulties of life, so that the individual can enjoy his life in luxury and realize his various individual and intellectual potentials. Dr. Amal said: The role of the family is to raise children, whether morally or religiously. Through the family, the child will learn all forms of social life so that when he reaches adulthood, he will be able to interact with society and interact with it correctly and effectively, and provide a feeling of stability and psychological calm. It is also the responsibility of the family Achieving family or familial stability, and thus this would make the child feel a kind of calm, comfort, and psychological security, and provide him with love, affection, housing, clothing, and all the elements of a decent life, instill good qualities in himself, and cover the child’s financial expenses. She pointed out that to achieve a balance between work life and family life, some families should not fall into the trap of focusing solely or largely on work life, especially if the parents work, but in fact this matter may generate some money for them to raise the family’s social level, but on the other hand On the other hand, it may be a cause of family collapse and the lack of stability within the family. Mutual respect between spouses is extremely important for achieving family stability, and the necessity for parents to treat each other in an appropriate manner, dominated by kindness and love, and refraining from behaving inappropriately or violently in front of children is a matter of concern. It is extremely dangerous in negatively affecting their psychological health, and may make them feel hateful and unstable. Occupational pressure: For her part, Dr. Noura Qanifah, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sharjah, addressed the issue of occupational pressure and mental health, and the necessity of balance between them. She said that pressure is a state of imbalance between demands and our ability to satisfy them, and it is a group of negative environmental factors such as: role ambiguity and conflict. Bad roles, working conditions, and excessive burdens that are related to a certain professional performance. It is also a state in which a person is constantly exposed to stress due to situations that exceed his ability to endure. Some describe it as an invisible disease or a silent killer.