It has been suggested that overprescription of antidepressants is fueled by the increase in the incidence of depression, stress and anxiety, or due to the way psychotropic medications are marketed. However, regardless of the validity of the said reasons, another explanation could be suggested: psychiatric disorders, namely depression, are being overdiagnosed on a considerable scale, probably leading to a list of significant adverse consequences that mostly affect the most vulnerable groups of patients. At the end, further rigorous research should certainly be undertaken to examine the extent and cost of overprescription of psychotropic drugs in society.
Hundreds of young Arab people are establishing initiatives to promote science in Arabic and raise scientific literacy across the Middle East, free of the censorship and bureaucracy of government and religious authorities (see Nature Middle East http://doi.org/7p8; 2015). They are publishing and translating scientific news and articles every day, including on topics such as evolution and sex education, which are widely taboo in many parts of the Middle East. Tens of thousands of reports, videos and infographics are popularizing a more objective way of thinking in the region. The movement relies on crowdsourcing from a vast pool of educated volunteers who are supervised by local scientists. This 'uprising' has reached millions of people in a relatively short time. One sciencecommunication group, Syrian Researchers, celebrated its millionth follower on Facebook in mid-2015 (www.syr-res.com). Another group, Scientific Saudi (www.scientificsaudi.com), has more than 250,000 social-media followers and is a learning partner of the Arabic edition of the MIT Technology Review.
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