page_title: Mental health in the Middle East
section_title: The evil eye
hierarchical_section_title: Mental health in the Middle East / Known syndromes / The evil eye
caption_attribution_description: English: Ruby eye pendant from an ancient civilisation in Mesopotamia. Adilnor Collection.
context_page_description: The study of mental health in the Middle East is an area of research that continues to grow in its scope and content. In 1998, the World Mental Health Survey Initiative was conducted by the World Federation for Mental Health. The was originally created in 1948 and works in concert with the World Health Organization. The 1998 survey sought to help define and clarify mental health Issues across many societies.
  To accurately evaluate and understand the mental health issues of the Middle East, one must take into account the geographic, historical, cultural, and social influences of that part of the world. While each of the many countries commonly considered part of the "Middle East" is unique, there is a binding ethnic fabric that should be considered. Firstly, the Middle East is the origin of many of the major world religions. Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all began in this region. Of these many religions, Islam has had the most lasting and culturally significant influence on the region, encompassing well over ninety percent of the population by some measurements.
context_section_description: The "evil eye" is also known as ʿayn al-ḥasūd (عين الحسود)" and "Mal De Ojo", and has been described by a number of sources. It is also described in Mexican culture The late Professor Alan Dundes theorized that belief in the evil eye had a Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Indo European pattern of distribution, and was completely unknown in the Americas, Pacific Islands, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa until the introduction of European and possibly Moorish culture.  He based his ideas upon the ancient underlying belief that water represented life and dryness represented death. Dundes suggested that evil caused by the evil eye came from its power to cause living beings to "dry up", specifically referring to infants, lactating mammals, and even young fruit trees.  Symptoms included sudden vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of potency in men. Dundes contended that the evil eye dries up liquids, which explained its Middle Eastern and desert origins. This unique syndrome is also mentioned in the DSM-IV TR, Appendix I.  The syndrome is also seen in many other Middle Eastern Countries.
caption: A Corundum Evil Eye Amulet from Mesapotamia  ʘDanieliness[16]
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