Global Mental Health

Mental Health in Qatar: Challenges and Prospects is the first volume of its kind to explore in breadth and in-depth the field of mental health in Qatar. The development of mental health services and the support of mental health research are priority areas in the strategic vision of this country. Through the voices of experts in the field working in service of this vision, this volume covers everything from the history of mental health systems development, administrative and academic growth and challenges, the treatment of all ages and special populations, to mental health challenges at schools and in the workplace. Within each section, authors from across the range of mental health disciplines in Qatar discuss the developments and the challenges faced in this rapidly developing country. The book is suitable for practitioners, researchers, administrators, academics, students, and a general audience both within Qatar and beyond.

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology.

Some Endorsements for Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy:

“[Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy] is more than an anthology. It is a wisely crafted collection of classic and contemporary scholarship noting that what many are seeking is what has always been, a perennial philosophy, that remains foundational. As one of the authors, Tage Lindbom, properly notes, ‘Secularization is a fish in troubled waters.’ This book claims the waters and is essential reading for all those who may have forgotten or are simply ignorant of the rich foundation provided by the perennial philosophy.”
—Ralph W. Hood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association, co-founder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion and co-author of The Psychology of Religion

“A necessary and bracing critique of the assumptions and limitations of contemporary Western psychology, this generous volume is also a passionate call and learned guide towards a truer perspective that embraces man's spiritual nature.”
—Gabor Maté, M.D., and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Knowing the nature of the mind is perhaps the most difficult undertaking, especially in today’s world. To comprehend the nature of mind one needs to turn to the domain of religion and spirituality. Yet the truth of the mind and its complexity cannot explicitly be defined in words. Inner or transcendent wisdom sees the mind’s own nature without the duality of the seer. Suchness (tathatā) of mind is only experiential and not expressible. The words used to describe thought are themselves a product of thought, which is conditioned and limited. Thus, differences and contradictions are unavoidable. Therefore, a comparative study of different viewpoints and commentaries is immensely important to awaken the inner intelligence to see the mind as it is. Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy: Studies in Comparative Religion edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is an outstanding effort in this direction.”
—Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, author of Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World

“The rise of psychology has impacted the study and practice of spirituality, the experiences and attitudes relevant to ultimate human values that transcend ordinary behavior. Each chapter of this remarkable book demonstrates this interaction in a unique and provocative way. But rather than using psychology to reduce and ‘psychologize’ spiritual topics, its authors demonstrate how directives from the spiritual traditions can enhance and even illuminate the enduring importance of psychology in the 21st century.”
—Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University, co-author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing

“The work at hand is a thinking and debating man’s delight. If you have any interest at all in attempting to include an educated and enlightened view of man’s higher functions in your purview of the world, you will learn from and enjoy this collection of essays. If you already have some knowledge in this area, brace yourself: you may see some of your favorites sharply criticized. A thought-provoking work.”
—Bruce W. Scotton, University of California, San Francisco, co-editor of Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology

“This book, superbly edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, is a masterful critique of the field of psychology and its loss of the sacred ground in which it once was rooted. It offers depth psychologists an opportunity to contemplate timeless truths echoed through the centuries by perennial philosophers who have always claimed psyche is subordinate to Spirit. Although ignored in depth psychology’s early years due to prejudice and lack of understanding, this is a message today’s psychotherapists must take seriously. Human beings need a deeper and wider transpersonal vision of who and what we are, which the saints and sages of the world’s spiritual traditions have always pointed to. In psychotherapy with a therapist committed to such a vision, patients penetrate into their unconscious depths and not infrequently awaken to the Ground of all Being. Their suffering itself occurred because they had turned away from Spirit. Above all, this volume passionately calls upon depth psychology to remember its origin in the perennial wisdom at the core of the great religions. There is something of a polemic in these pages. It deserves to be considered by depth psychologists of all persuasions.”
—Bryan Wittine, Transpersonal psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst

“This anthology from Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a must reference for anyone who is interested in psychology and its relationship to spirituality, and in developing an inclusive dialogue between disciplines that favor an integral outlook on the person and his or her potential. Selections in this anthology will inspire us to reexamine the metaphysical underpinnings of psychology, and remind us how important it is to rise above science’s attempt to reduce the human being to an epistemic object.”
—Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore, India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita

“This anthology has some of the most discerning essays and reviews on spirituality and psychology, which provide much-needed care and caution to all those engaged in bringing them together or who wish to do so in future. Therefore, it is a must-read for all those who teach, research, consult, or study in such frontier areas as transpersonal psychology, states of consciousness, mind-body relation, holistic health, Indian psychology, and so on. It will be an invaluable textbook for courses in these and other related areas. I congratulate the editor of the book.”
—Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, University of Mysore (India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Psychology of Meditation: A Contextual Approach

“One of the finest collections of essays on the Perennial Philosophy—a must-read for all psychologists who are engaged with spirituality and transpersonal psychology. The essays which critique modern psychology (including transpersonal psychology, and the framework of Carl Jung), in the light of the Perennial Philosophy are a revelation and make compelling reading. The book serves as a corrective to the excesses of modern psychology, and to this end Sotillos has done a commendable job. I for one will include the book in some of the graduate courses that I teach.”
—Suneet Varma, University of Delhi, co-editor of Foundations of Indian Psychology

“To its credit modern science by-and-large is becoming more cognizant of the essential connection between spirituality and psychological health and well-being and most of all its positive implications within the field of psychology. While there is ample data to document this in a plethora of academic journals and books, this new book Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy adds a novel contribution to the dialogue between psychology and spirituality, which captures many nuances that for the most part go unnoticed within these discussions, and last but not least, it provides a keen eye of discernment to understand this intricate relationship on a deeper level that is crucially needed. This work will be a valuable asset to students and long term mental health practitioners and professors alike who seek to better understand the relationship between psychology and spirituality.”
—Harold G. Koenig, Duke University, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, co-author of The Handbook of Religion and Health

The focus of this paper is on the integration of artistic techniques within the feld of gestalt therapy.
From a humanistic and phenomenological framework, this paper focuses on how these techniques
can enhance mental well-being and therapeutic change. Through the exploration of past research,
both from gestalt therapy and art therapy literature, art is viewed either as a vehicle towards verbalization or as an entity on its own. During Art therapy, a piece of art is created however the focus
and subsequent in depth exploration is on the creative process itself, within the therapeutic relationship. During this exploration, art is used as the ground to facilitate and enhance the expression
of individuals' feelings in therapy. Through this manner art can be used in gestalt therapy to help
an individual become aware of unconscious processes in order to creatively adjust to the present
moment. Whilst tapping on the emotional processes, the client can experience direct, reality-based
and immediate responses. One can say that both gestalt therapy and art therapy focus on the
therapeutic process that is created in between the therapist and client.

AKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Philip J. Jaggar for the precious support he has given throughout the year with my dissertation, as well as all the knowledge he has taught me along the years as my Hausa lecturer.

FULL TEXT HERE: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/TisUSYK5gw3iQctC3e7w/full
Autism (AUT) is one of the most prevalent developmental disorders emerging during childhood, and can be amongst the most incapacitating mental disorders. Some individuals with AUT require a lifetime of supervised care. Autism Speaks reported estimated costs for 2012 at £34 billion in the UK; and $3.2 million-$126 billion in the US, Australia and Canada. Ethnicity and migration experiences appear to increase risks of AUT and relate to underlying biological risk factors. Sociobiological stress factors can affect the uterine environment, or relate to stress-induced epigenetic changes during pregnancy and delivery. Epigenetic risk factors associated with AUT also include poor pregnancy conditions, low birth weight, and congenital malformation. Recent studies report that children from migrant communities are at higher risk of AUT than children born to non-migrant mothers, with the exception of Hispanic children. This paper provides the first systematic review into prevalence and predictors of AUT with a particular focus on maternal migration stressors and epigenetic risk factors. AUT rates appear higher in certain migrant communities, potentially relating to epigenetic changes after stressful experiences. Although AUT remains a rare disorder, failures to recognize its public health urgency and local community needs continue to leave certain cultural groups at a disadvantage.

Title: Where Is the Family in Global Mental Health?
Presenter:  Vincenzo Di Nicola, M.D., Ph.D.

Learning Objectives:
Audience participants will be able to:
(1) Articulate why a central role for families is needed for the effectiveness of clinical and research programs in Global Mental Health (GMH);
(2) Describe how health categories that focus solely on individuals can obscure awareness of relational, social, and cultural processes that contribute to health and illness.

Abstract:

From a family perspective, the Global Mental Health Movement appears as a regressive step to the usual Western health categories that focus on individuals as bearers of larger issues in the family, community, society and culture. These larger envelopes are addressed in the impersonal way of categories—e.g., child abuse, substance abuse, violence, and treatment gaps—rather than from the relational, social and cultural perspectives that define mental health and illness more fully, meaningfully, and realistically. These aspects of GMH may deepen the practitioners’ perception of public health and epidemiology and their international organizations as being removed from clinical concerns and from their meaningful relational contexts. Without such notions as attachment and belonging, ignoring the most significant of human relationships based on the family and community, GMH risks creating another disembodied field divorced from our lived experience as communal and relational beings.


References

Di Nicola, Vincenzo. A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy. New York & London: W.W. Norton, 1997.

Di Nicola, Vincenzo. Letters to a Young Therapist: Relational Practices for the Coming Community. New York & Dresden: Atropos Press, 2011.

Di Nicola, Vincenzo. Family, psychosocial, and cultural determinants of health. In: Sorel, Eliot, ed., 21st Century Global Mental Health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2012, pp. 119-150.


Bio Sketch

Vincenzo Di Nicola, MPhil, MD, PhD, is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist who uses family, social and cultural perspectives to investigate children and families in disadvantaged contexts, both at home and abroad. He works with migrant children and families and the impacts of trauma. Di Nicola is the author of “A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy” (1997), “Letters to a Young Therapist” (2011), and a forthcoming selection of his writing, “On the Threshold: Children, Families, and Culture Change,” edited and introduced by Armando Favazza, MD, MPH. Di Nicola is Chair of the APA Global Mental Health Caucus and Full Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Montreal.

While the largely medical evidence base put out through the 1990s- totalling up to the "global mental health" agendas- suggests only medical cures for psychosocial impact of social inequalities, disadvantage and exclusion, there is a tiny glimmer of thinking, that the medical researchers are considering whether social empowerment is a ‘cure’ too, for mental health problems.  However, such literature has not considered the positive impact, on psychosocial distress and disturbance, through use of empowerment initiatives.  For example, researchers while identifying poverty alleviation as a likely measure to prevent psychosocial distress; however, conclude with an argument for "scaling up for mental health services", claiming inconclusive evidence.  Over the decade, in research formulations, using a reductionistic view about development programs, arguments for the economic "cost" of "mental disorder" has outweighed interest on the impact of poverty, and other social determinants, on mental health; and its reverse effects.

Background We systematically reviewed implementation research targeting depression interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to assess gaps in methodological coverage. Methods PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EMBASE were searched for evaluations of depression interventions in LMICs reporting at least one implementation outcome published through March 2019. Results A total of 8714 studies were screened, 759 were assessed for eligibility, and 79 studies met inclusion criteria. Common implementation outcomes reported were acceptability (n = 50; 63.3%), feasibility (n = 28; 35.4%), and fidelity (n = 18; 22.8%). Only four studies (5.1%) reported adoption or penetration, and three (3.8%) reported sustainability. The Sub-Saharan Africa region (n = 29; 36.7%) had the most studies. The majority of studies (n = 59; 74.7%) reported outcomes for a depression intervention implemented in pilot researcher-controlled settings. Studies commonly focused on Hybrid Type-1 effectiveness-imp...

Women in North India are socialized to care for others, so what do they do when they get a disease like diabetes that requires intensive self-care? In Sugar and Tension, Lesley Jo Weaver uses women’s experiences with diabetes in New Delhi as a lens to explore how gendered roles and expectations are taking shape in contemporary India. Weaver argues that although women’s domestic care of others may be at odds with the self-care mandates of biomedically-managed diabetes, these roles nevertheless do important cultural work that may buffer women’s mental and physical health by fostering social belonging. Weaver describes how women negotiate the many responsibilities in their lives when chronic disease is at stake. As women weigh their options, the choices they make raise questions about whose priorities should count in domestic, health, and family worlds. The varied experiences of women illustrate that there are many routes to living well or poorly with diabetes, and these are not always the ones canonized in biomedical models of diabetes management.

Climate change and mental health concerns are both defining issues of the generation of today. It has been established that the worsening climate causes many environmental disasters and physical health problems. However, its psychological impacts are still not well understood. Climate change has brought about an emerging psychological phenomenon termed 'climate anxiety' or 'eco-anxiety,' which has been described as a "chronic fear of environmental doom" (Clayton et al., 2017, p. 68) due to the impact of climate change. This predictive cross-sectional study investigated the link between climate change anxiety and mental health among 433 Filipinos. A total of 145 males and 288 females aged 18 to 26 completed the Climate Change Anxiety Scale and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38). Results show a significant relationship between climate change anxiety and mental health, with climate change anxiety predicting 13.5% of the overall Mental Health Index variance. Significantly, climate change anxiety was associated with the MHI-38's global scale of Psychological Distress but not with the global scale of Psychological Wellbeing. The findings are discussed concerning the broader context of research on the mental health impacts of climate change.

BORDERS & BELONGING:      
From Adversity to Diversity in Cultural Child & Family Psychiatry

Vincenzo Di Nicola, MPhil, MD, PhD, DFAPA
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Montreal

Abstract:

Objectives: To provide a perspective on a career in community and cultural child psychiatry through the triple lenses of children, families, and culture, focusing on culture change syndromes, migration, and trauma.

Methods: Employing the lenses of children, families, and culture, Di Nicola has argued throughout his career that we cannot simply add layers to our understanding of these domains but rather that these elements have to be brought into dialogue with each other, sometimes radically challenging each other: 1) To study children across culture is to revision how we think about development. 2) To take family therapy seriously is to radically rethink how we imagine all relationships, from attachment and belonging to diverse family configurations and evolving constructions of gender and sexuality. 3) It’s also true that for cultural psychiatry and family therapy to take children seriously, they have rethink received notions of families and culture. None of these domains are fixed, stable or unchanging - they are all in flux.

Results: This layered and dialogic approach to children, families, and culture led Di Nicola to forge these syntheses: 1) Cultural family therapy (transcultural psychiatry & family therapy). 2) Transcultural child psychiatry (child psychiatry & transcultural psychiatry). 3) Child- and family-centered global mental health (child & family psychiatry with the global mental health movement).

Conclusions: Beyond evidence-based medicine, child psychiatry is nourished by meaningful personal and professional values. Di Nicola concludes with metaphors that inspire his work from social adversity to cultural diversity: 1) “A stranger in the family” (title of his book on cultural family therapy that explores three levels of strangeness – the mentally ill child in the family, the family that finds itself estranged in society due to migration or other socio-cultural differences, and finally, the therapist who arrives as a stranger in their midst with often alien or estranging views of their predicament). 2) “Looking across at growing up” (developmental psychologist Charles Super’s view of anthropology's horizontal or cross-cultural approach). 3) “Cultural changelings” (children’s experience of migrating across all the domains relevant to culture, including class, gender, race, religion and other aspects of belonging and community).

Learning Objectives:

1. To provide a framework for the interaction of three crucial factors for child and family psychiatry: children (developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology), families (attachment theory, belonging, family systems theory and therapy), and culture (anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, transcultural psychiatry).

2. To demonstrate the relevance of the interaction of these domains with examples of their syntheses: (a) cultural family therapy (transcultural psychiatry with family therapy); (b) transcultural child psychiatry (transcultural psychiatry with child psychiatry; and (c) child- and family-centered global mental health (global mental health with child psychiatry and family therapy).

3. To give examples of theoretical implications of the interaction of child, family and cultural factors for culture-inclusive theories of child and family development and clinical examples of culture-bound and culture-change syndromes such as Selective Mutism and Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders.


Biography

Vincenzo Di Nicola, MPhil, MD, PhD, DFAPA is chief of child and adolescent psychiatry, Montreal University Institute for Mental Health, tenured full professor of psychiatry, University of Montreal, and clinical professor, The George Washington University. Dr. Di Nicola trained in psychology (McGill University, University of London) and medicine (McMaster University), with residencies in paediatrics and psychiatry (McGill), where his mentor was Professor Raymond Prince, and fellowships in family therapy (McGill) and child psychiatry (University of Ottawa). He later specialized in Refugee Trauma and Global Mental Health with Professor Richard Mollica at the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, leading to interdisciplinary investigations on trauma with a doctorate in philosophy (European Graduate School). Dr. Di Nicola was founding president of the Canadian Association of Social Psychiatry, co-founder and past chair of APA Caucus on Global Mental Health and Psychiatry, serving twice as President, APA Quebec District Branch. Currently, he is Representative to the APA Assembly and Chair, Assembly Committee on Psychiatric Diagnosis and DSM, as well as board member and Program Committee co-chair, Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture. He has won numerous scholarships and prizes throughout his career for both scientific and literary pursuits. Dr. Di Nicola characterizes his career as a community and cultural child and adolescent psychiatrist and cultural family therapist working with disadvantaged and cultural communities in Montreal, as well as teaching and consultations in child psychiatry and family therapy around the world, notably in Brazil and Haiti.

This study explores the disparity between psychiatric interventions and the lived experience of problematic drinking, which is a critical global mental health issue, including in an indigenous area in Northern Taiwan. This strategically situated three-year ethnographic study on a hospital’s jiejiu project highlights the dilemma of current health interventions that target indigenous people who drink under settler-colonial conditions. Interventions based on Western psychiatric categories can lose their efficacy due to disparate understandings regarding illness, moral experience, and perceptions of indigenous drinking cultures. The difficulties of such interventions also appear from hesitant self-identification and ambivalence toward a drinking culture shaped by social changes wrought by marginalization and oppression through colonization. Psychiatrization of the human condition and the top-down format of health delivery policy reaffirm colonial power and generate various levels of stigmatization. This study asserts the need to decolonize modern psychiatric knowledge and inquire into the ontology of drinking practices under complicated contexts in the contemporary world.

Children and adolescents affected by armed conflict are in critical need of support, however, there is a paucity of research dedicated to understanding preventative mental health interventions for children in post-conflict settings. This study aims to address two simple questions: (1) What is the impact of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) on children in post-conflict settings (2) What is the feasibility of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) in Burundi?  The purpose of the paper is to answer these questions through a brief review of existing PTAs in post-conflict settings and an analysis of qualitative data. Interviews will be used to understand the attitudes and acceptability of PTAs in Burundi. Analysis used a thematic analysis approach. The paper will inform researchers and humanitarian organizations and add to existing studies about the feasibility of parent teacher associations (PTAs) in low and middle income countries (LAMIC) in post-conflict settings. Departing from the brief review of the existing studies to the analysis of qualitative data, this paper may generate new notions of school-family involvement and expand the understanding of the benefits children may gain from this parent-teacher relationship.

Family Matters: The Family as a Resource for the Mental, Social, and Relational Wellbeing of Migrants, Asylum Seekers, and Other Displaced Populations

Vincenzo Di Nicola and Suzan Song

World Association of Social Psychiatry (WASP) Textbook of Social Psychiatry
Oxford University Press, forthcoming

Abstract

This chapter addresses the role of the family in the mental, social and relational wellbeing of migrants – immigrants, refugees, and displaced children, adolescents, and adults (hereafter referred to as “migrants”). Starting with a review of the ecosocial changes in a family after migration to new countries, cultures, and contexts, we will then discuss how clinicians can respond to the unique challenges for displaced families using a family-based approach. This requires a basic epistemological shift towards families and communities when dealing with migration and trauma. The key notion is that families are the crucible for socialization and belonging and crucial resources for the care, support, and healing of its members. 

First, it is important to understand the difference between individual and family functioning, using relational psychology. The family genogram is presented as an information-gathering tool (McGoldrick, et al., 2008). A brief overview of this approach based in systems theory, family therapy, and other relational therapies is offered, noting that these approaches were founded on more or less stable social and cultural contexts. The first challenge for clinicians with displaced persons is to add a socio-cultural dimension to sensitize them to working with families across cultures (see Di Nicola, 1985a, 1985b, 1997, 1998), appreciating changing definitions of families, and understanding families in light of globalization and Global Mental Health (Cohen, et al., 2013; Patel & Prince, 2010; Di Nicola, 2012). A cultural genogram helps the clinician understand the family’s culture of origin. The second challenge is to appreciate how family functioning is affected by disasters and conflicts leading to displacement, including migration and refugee status. These dislocations not only disrupt family functioning in the culture of origin (enculturation), but demand adaptation to other cultures (acculturation). This is often not a unitary process but a sequential one, requiring multiple adaptations, leading to the creation of a new, synthetic refugee culture.

Some of the clinical challenges for the clinician include family fragmentation (Sluzki, 1979, 1992) and new family configurations, exposure to traumatic incidents, and differential effects of fragmentation and trauma across the domains of age (with unique challenges for refugee youth, elderly and special needs), gender (with special sensitivity to how LGBTQ issues morph across culture), culture (including language, religion, and social class), and other aspects of identity and belonging. Critical issues include the need to balance dealing with loss while promoting healthy adaptations to new realities, using the resources of the family, including all of its members and the community of care in its new contexts.

Keywords: family assessment, family therapy, migrant and refugee families, displaced persons, globalization, Global Mental Health, trauma

Doon Theological Journal 11.2 (2014): 144-155.

“There is no health without mental health”1– what a bold statement in a world, where mental illness is still shamefully hidden, rejected and demonized! What a bold statement in a country, which together with China has the highest rate of suicides. What a bold statement in provinces, where there is no other treatment for severe mental illness than locking them up in jail!2Famous anthropologist Arthur Kleinman is decrying the failure in humanity regarding mental health3. However, there is hope. It is very encouraging that Christians are starting to focus on the crying need of those who are afflicted with mental distress, sorrow and illness. This article is intended to give an overview of Biblical perspectives related to mental health and originated in a presentation given at the first conference on “A Christian view of Mental Health” which was held at the Luther New Theological Seminary in Dehradun, December 8th, 2013.

Global Mental Health (GMH) initiatives aim to address inequities in mental health care across the world. Particular emphasis is placed on building mental health service capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where over 80% of the global population lives. Consistent with this approach, concerted efforts are being made to globally disseminate psychological interventions. These initiatives must negotiate tensions that exist between making interventions sufficiently scalable, whilst retaining aspects of the psychotherapy process that maximize both the acceptability and efficacy of psychological interventions. This paper reflects on the important contribution that Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS) can make to GMH. CBS draws on behavioral and environmental principles that translate into various therapeutic applications [including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP)] and social change initiatives (such as the PROSOCIAL approach). Consideration will be given to the cross-cultural utility and validity of CBS approaches, and the way in which these can help ensure that GMH initiatives extend beyond narrow efforts to address symptoms of mental disorders to include a focus on enhancing wellbeing. It is proposed that knowledge from ACT and FAP can help build sophistication in efforts to develop and deliver ‘therapist-free’ psychological interventions that will need to retain sensitivity to clients’ emotional expressions. In addition, the PROSOCIAL approach provides opportunities for groups of people to cooperate effectively to achieve shared aspirations and build ‘communities of support’ that can serve to optimize peoples’ mental health and wellbeing.

Background. In this period of unprecedented levels of displacement, scalable interventions are needed to address mental health concerns of forced migrants in low-resource settings. This paper describes the adaptation and piloting of a guided, multi-media, self-help intervention, Self-Help Plus (SH+), which was developed to reduce psychological distress in large groups of people affected by adversity.

This book, written by Carl Walker (a senior lecturer in psychology at the school of applied social science, university of Brighton) within a critical psychology perspective, aims mainly at defending the following thesis: "depression is a political and economic problem" (p. 157). More precisely, it features the social production of mental illness, i.e. too much underestimated links he said between political economy, social structures and prevalence of depression. The general and theoretical problem to solve is well-known, but disputed: what is the etiology of mental illness?

 One hundred and seventy-two women randomly selected from a Zimbabwean township were interviewed with a Shona screen for mental disorders and a semi-structured interview to assess symptoms suggestive of emotional distress, followed by the Present State Examination. Using criteria slightly stricter than threshold level 5 of the PSE-CATEGO-ID system, 30n8% of women had a depressive or anxiety disorder during the previous year. Nearly all disorders met Bedford College criteria for depression ; 65 % of these also had anxiety features. Only 0n6% of women had a ' pure ' anxiety disorder not preceded by or associated with depression in the study year. Compared with London, the higher annual prevalence of disorders in Harare could mostly be accounted for by an excess of onset cases in the study year, 70 % of which made a full or partial recovery within 12 months. The women's own words for these episodes included ' thinking too much ', ' deep sadness ' and a variety of terms describing heart discomfort, interpretation showing many of the latter to be expressions for grief, fear, or the possession of an insoluble problem, and 73 % explained their symptoms as caused by a specific social stressor.

Objectives:
Conversations between anthropologists and psychiatrists have led to new theoretical trajectories, research agendas and clinical practices as social scientists and medical practitioners forged new understandings about the interaction of culture, personhood and illness. However, the demands of global mental health, coupled with health service provision requirements, mean that mental health interventions set up with the best intentions can fail to take into account the knowledge and expertise that social sciences can contribute to a programme’s success. In this paper, I reflect on conversations between an anthropologist and mental health professionals in direct reference to data analysis of an AusAID mental health capacity-building programme undertaken in the Pacific region.
Conclusions:
Social and cultural perspectives embedded within programmes can provide richer, more contextualised interventions. In drawing on the combined expertise of anthropology and psychiatry, new taken-for-granted reference points embedding cultural approaches form the basis for delivery of global mental health programmes.
These perspectives include:
•Locating mental health programmes within development critiques
•Situating the subjects of development within contextualised settings, acknowledging and respecting local knowledge, understandings and practices
•A focus on interdisciplinarity as the basis for future practice in global mental health projects

The number of people encountering a humanitarian crisis around the world is the highest since the Second World War, with over 76 million people in need of assistance (1). Amongst these, millions have a mental disorder, which in most cases, is left without treatment. The Andean
country of Ecuador has encountered several natural disasters and armed conflict during the last decades due to its geographic location (See Appendix 1). Despite the adverse effects and consequences of mental disorders in humanitarian contexts in Ecuador, there is an unclear standing on how to respond with regards to mental health within these settings. The present policy reports wishes to provide evidence-based advice to policy-makers of Ecuador through comprehensive information and policy recommendations for achieving culturally appropriate
guidelines for Humanitarian Response in the mental health and psychosocial support context in Ecuador.

In the past decade, a large number of studies have been conducted exploring the relationship between gratitude, psychological well-being and happiness. Empirical studies have indicated potential variations in the relationship between gratitude and well-being and few studies have even reported negative association between these constructs. The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between Gratitude, Psychological well-being and Happiness. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 college students. Participants were randomly selected and the sample consisted of both male (n = 67) and female (n = 133). Measures included The Gratitude Questionnaire, Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale, and The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ). Findings suggest that there is a positive association among Gratitude, Psychological well-being, its dimensions and Happiness. Limitation and implications of the present study are discussed. The findings of the present study can lay a ground work for conceptualizing a theoretical model of Gratitude and its estimator variables. Further research can focus on intervention study to improve Gratitude among adolescence population by implementing Gratitude based therapy, and thereby enhancing their Psychological Well-Being.

Keywords: Gratitude, Psychological well-being, Happiness, Intervention, Mental Health

No existing review has synthesized key questions about acculturation experiences among international migrant workers. This review aimed to explore (1) What are global migrant workers' experiences with acculturation and acculturative stress? (2) What are acculturative stress coping strategies used by migrant workers? And (3) how effective are these strategies for migrant workers in assisting their acculturation in the host countries? Peer-reviewed and gray literature, without time limitation, were searched in six databases and included if the study: focused on acculturative stress and coping strategies; was conducted with international migrant workers; was published in English; and was empirical. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Three-layered themes of acculturation process and acculturative stress were identified as: individual layer; work-related layer; and social layer. Three key coping strategies were identified: emotion-focused; problem-focused; and appraisal-focus...

In this chapter, we interrogate some assumptions of Western (Euro-American) psychology to open up a broader conversation about the diversity of human experience in health and illness. Our approach draws from cultural constructivist and critical anthropological perspectives that view notions of self as situated and shaped by local interpretive practices inscribed within and constrained by larger histories and political economic contexts (Kirmayer, 2006). We view notions of self as cultural constructions that reflect collective understandings of experience and behavior. These practices involve embodied experience, modes of discourse, and social contexts or institutions that provide the cultural affordances through which we navigate the world. By laying bare these contexts, we can show some of the building blocks of psychological structure and function, the range of methodologies needed to advance this exploration, and the political constraints that continue to marginalize or silence diverse voices and perspectives.

Background Nowadays, the youth are more engaging with their more advanced smartphones having high-quality graphics and gaming features. However, existing literature depicts that adolescents suffer from several forms of psychological problems including mental health, depression, loneliness, insomnia and low self-control due to mobile game addiction. Therefore, this study aims to find the prevalence and motivating factors for mobile game addiction among university students of Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out to collect the required information from 1125 students of three universities in Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics, χ2 test and ordinal regression model are employed to meet the objective of this study. Results The findings reveal that male students are more likely to show addictive behaviours than their counterparts in the context of mobile game addiction. The results depict that loneliness, duration of using smartphones and playing mobile games, and s...

The term ‘‘cultural concepts of distress’’ (CCD) was introduced in DSM-5 to better characterize the broad set of constructs identified in clinical and ethnographic research on cultural variations in distress. The contributions to this issue of Transcultural Psychiatry on cultural concepts of distress show how much work on this topic has evolved and equally what remains to be done. In this Commentary, we take stock of the current state of the field and outline some future directions for research and clinical application.

Cultural clinical psychology and psychiatry aim to address the mental health needs of diverse communities by integrating attention to cultural differences in knowledge, social institutions, identities, and practices. These differences affect mental health by influencing the causes and mechanisms of psychopathology, shaping illness experience and expression, and guiding processes of coping, adaptation, healing and recovery. Various theoretical models, borrowed from social sciences, have been used to understand the interaction of culture and mental health and the nature of psychiatric disorders. These models reflect the cultural assumptions of psychiatry itself and becoming aware of some of these tacit assumptions is essential to open up a space for intercultural work. In this chapter, we will advance an ecosocial approach to culture in mental health in terms of “culturally responsive care.” This aims to identify crucial dimensions of culture and social context relevant to the lived experience of mental health problems and apply that to understanding to clinical assessment and interventions.

The Global South:
An Emergent Epistemology

Summary

In this essay, I discuss the sociopolitical notion of the Global South as a bridge between globalization and the Global Mental Health (GMH) movement. A brief history of the Global South reveals that it is wider and deeper than economic and geopolitical notions such as the Third World, the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement, across a broad swathe of history and culture. I then turn to globalization and its critics, examining critiques of economics, human rights, and problems associated with humanitarian services. A feature of GMH, “the health gap” is contrasted with “the epistemic gap,” a divide between the epistemologies of the North and emergent Southern epistemologies. Three key features of the Global South – conviviality, porosity and syncretism – are discussed with examples from my practice of cultural consultations in child psychiatry and family therapy in Haiti and Brazil.

Keywords: Globalization, the Global South, Global Mental Health (GMH), Southern epistemologies, syncretism, conviviality, porosity

At a time of uncertainty and change in Oaxaca, Mexico, mental-health practice dovetails with political-economic projects to reflect and produce tensionsaround“culture.”Promotingmental health is linked to goals for economic development, and notions of culture and modernity are co-constructed in ways that cast culture as a barrier to mental health. “Psychological modernization” efforts therefore seek to flatten cultural difference in the interests of national advancement. Not only do psy-services in Oaxaca provide means of self-understanding and technologies for self-cultivation in the context of modernity, but they also actively seek to produce the psychological conditions for modernity. Yet many professionals attribute Mexico’s mental-health problems to the very processes of modernization, development, and globalization that their projects seek to facilitate. [governmentality, mental health, modernization, multiculturalism, psychology, psychiatry, Mexico]

Oaxaca is known for many things--its indigenous groups, archaeological sites, crafts, and textiles--but not for mental health care. When one talks with Oaxacans about mental health, most say it's a taboo topic and that people there think you "have to be crazy to go to a psychologist." Yet throughout Oaxaca are signs advertising the services of psicólogos; there are prominent conferences of mental health professionals; and self-help groups like Neurotics Anonymous thrive, where participants rise to say, "Hola, mi nombre es Raquel, y soy neurótica."

How does one explain the recent growth of Euroamerican-style therapies in the region? Author Whitney L. Duncan analyzes this phenomenon of "psy-globalization" and develops a rich ethnography of its effects on Oaxacans' understandings of themselves and their emotions, ultimately showing how globalizing forms of care are transformative for and transformed by the local context. She also delves into the mental health impacts of migration from Mexico to the United States, both for migrants who return and for the family members they leave behind.

This book is a recipient of the Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize from Vanderbilt University Press for the best book in the area of medicine.

https://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Therapy-Mental-Practice-Cultural-dp-0826521983/dp/0826521983/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

In recent years, the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH) and the World Health Organization have worked closely with governments across the global South to redress major treatment gaps to improve access to mental health services. In India, recent reforms include transforming public psychiatric institutions from sites of treatment to research and training institutes, known as ''Centres of Excellence,'' to combat acute manpower shortages and modernize psychiatry. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at a public psychiatric hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir, one of the institutions selected to be a future ''Centre of Excellence,'' this article focuses on how these reforms have affected psychiatric institutions themselves. Efforts at modernizing and increasing access to mental health care—that is, emphasizing shortened stays, increasing outpatient treatment, and providing care in the ''community''—depend on quarantining stigmatized, chronically ill, long-term patients who reside in custodial conditions with fewer resources and limited attention from providers. Psychiatrists have a radically different vision for redressing manpower shortages than the MGMH and Indian state, revealing contradictions in the reform process. This paper demonstrates how modernizing mental health care splits mental institutions spatially, ontologically, temporally, and epistemologically, so that the process of modernizing the institution is neither seamless nor complete.

No existing review has synthesized key questions about acculturation experiences among international migrant workers. This review aimed to explore (1) What are global migrant workers' experiences with acculturation and ac-culturative stress? (2) What are acculturative stress coping strategies used by migrant workers? And (3) how effective are these strategies for migrant workers in assisting their acculturation in the host countries? Peer-reviewed and gray literature, without time limitation, were searched in six databases and included if the study: focused on acculturative stress and coping strategies; was conducted with international migrant workers; was published in English; and was empirical. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Three-layered themes of acculturation process and accul-turative stress were identified as: individual layer; work-related layer; and social layer. Three key coping strategies were identified: emotion-focused; problem-focused; and appraisal-focused. These coping strategies were used flexibly to increase coping effectiveness and evidence emerged that a particular type of acculturative stress might be solved more effectively by a specific coping strategy. Migrant workers faced numerous challenges in their acculturative process. Understanding this process and their coping strategies could be used in developing research and interventions to improve the well-being of migrant workers.

Adolescence is a crucial period for developing and maintaining social and emotional habits thus mental health issue among youth is not a new concern. This silent crisis among teenagers is usually disregarded and untreated. As students adapt to online learning during the pandemic, students experience difficulties in their studies due to academic pressure in a new environment learning. The research shows the correlation between distance learning and the student's mental health. Additionally, this will exhibit strategies in coping up with mental stressors.