Situating Global Mental Health: Sociocultural Perspectives

White, Ross; Orr, D.; Read, Ursula M.; Jain, Sumeet

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-39510-8_1

Cited by 19 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The direct economic costs of MD, including care and indirect effects, is estimated to reach $6 trillion in 2030, which is more than cancer, diabetes, and respiratory diseases combined 2 . As part of a global effort to scale up services and bring down costs, reliance is increasingly made upon informal social networks 3 . A holistic approach to mental health promotion and care provision is then necessary, and emphasis is placed on the idea of individuals-in-community: individuals with MD are defined not just alone but in relationship to others 4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative account of social interactions in a mental health care ecosystem: cooperation, trust and collective action

Cigarini

Vicens

Duch

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Mental disorders have an enormous impact in our society, both in personal terms and in the economic costs associated with their treatment. In order to scale up services and bring down costs, administrations are starting to promote social interactions as key to care provision. We analyze quantitatively the importance of communities for effective mental health care, considering all community members involved. By means of citizen science practices, we have designed a suite of games that allow to probe into different behavioral traits of the role groups of the ecosystem. The evidence reinforces the idea of community social capital, with caregivers and professionals playing a leading role. Yet, the cost of collective action is mainly supported by individuals with a mental condition - which unveils their vulnerability. The results are in general agreement with previous findings but, since we broaden the perspective of previous studies, we are also able to find marked differences in the social behavior of certain groups of mental disorders. We finally point to the conditions under which cooperation among members of the ecosystem is better sustained, suggesting how virtuous cycles of inclusion and participation can be promoted in a ‘care in the community’ framework.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative account of social interactions in a mental health care ecosystem: cooperation, trust and collective action

Cigarini

Vicens

Duch

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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“…Thus, social capital and the broader contexts governing mental health are important to consider for public health researchers to understand how to best address the status of mental health among the youth in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban government in Mazar-e-Sharif. Finally, we position this literature on the global scale as efforts to understand and apply global mental health increase in prevalence ( 34 ). Specifically, by understanding better the regional-specific mental health mediators in Mazar-e-Sharif, the lessons may be transferred and applied in other contexts, where policy positions may be better informed by information such as salient mediators of resilience, effective psychometric scales, and other predictors of mental health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

War Experience, Daily Stressors and Mental Health Among the Inter-taliban Generation Young Adults in Northern Afghanistan: A Cross-Sectional School-Based Study

et al. 2022

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ObjectivesThe specific objectives of the study are to examine the mental health (depression and anxiety) of the first generation of post-Taliban government and compare these measures with its preceding generation, and to assess war experience of the first generation of post-Taliban government. We also wanted to assess the daily stressors and their contribution to the mental health, and to assess mental health as a result of war experiences and daily stressors with respect to demographic measures such as sex, marital status, age, mother's age, birth order, and ethnicities.MethodsIn a cross-sectional design, 621 high school students, were randomly selected to participate in the study to assess war experience, daily stressors, and mental health among the first generation of young adults under post-Taliban government.ResultsThe participants had 17.37 ± 0.9 mean years of ages, 94.8% of them were unmarried. Poor mental health was significantly associated with higher exposure to war, but not with the age of participants (P = 0.08). There was no association between war experiences and the age and ethnicity of our participants (p = 0.9, p = 0.7). Age differences were negligible for daily stressors too (P = 0.07). Daily stressors scores were higher for female than male students (P = 0.02). The majority of young adults surveyed, declared themselves in agreement with statements such as the security situation in Afghanistan makes me frustrated (56%), air pollution as a concern (41%), and not having anyone to talk about what is in their heart (28.8%). Gender differences were highly significant for mental health, as appraised by both The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL) –depression and HSCL-anxiety. Girls presented higher rates of depression, anxiety, and daily stressors than boys, and boys presented higher rates of war experiences than girls.ConclusionWar experience, daily stressors, and mental health were irrelevant with age, ethnicity and marital status. Factor such as being the first-born child of the family, higher reported war experiences, and daily stressors all negatively impact mental health. Alongside war and its direct effects, the existing socio-cultural context must be considered as a potential factor mediating the mental health of girls in Afghanistan.

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“…Similarly, some authors have emphasized this community-oriented approach, noting that certain social characteristics (e.g., a more fluid, less categorical approach to culture, medicine, and politics) of the countries belonging to the Global South might make the approach more effective when addressing mental health issues globally (Di Nicola, 2020). In this vein, White et al, (2017), discussing community-based interventions within GMH, cite the “Recovery Approach” (Anthony, 1993) as an example of how the GMH movement can benefit from approaches focused on promoting connectedness, hope, identity, meaning, and empowerment, rather than simply trying to reduce the severity of psychiatric symptoms. Community-based rehabilitation (WHO, 2010b) and community-based system dynamics (Hovmand, 2014) are among the other methods mentioned in the recent literature concerning community-based interventions in the context of GMH.…”

Section: The Role Of Community and Traditional Medicine In Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communalistic use of psychoactive plants as a bridge between traditional healing practices and Western medicine: A new path for the Global Mental Health movement

Oña

Berrada

Bouso

2021

Transcult Psychiatry

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The Global Mental Health (GMH) movement aims to provide urgently needed treatment to those with mental illness, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Due to the complexity of providing mental health services to people from various cultures, there is much debate among GMH advocates regarding the best way to proceed. While biomedical interventions offer some degree of help, complementary approaches should focus on the social/community aspects. Many cultures conduct traditional rituals involving the communal use of psychoactive plants. We propose that these practices should be respected, protected, and promoted as valuable tools with regard to mental health care at the community level. The traditional use of psychoactive plants promotes community engagement and participation, and they are relatively affordable. Furthermore, the worldviews and meaning-making systems of local population are respected. The medical systems surrounding the use of psychoactive plants can be explained in biomedical terms, and many recently published clinical trials have demonstrated their therapeutic potential. Psychoactive plants and associated rituals offer potential benefits as complementary aspects of mental health services. They should be considered as such by international practitioners and advocates of the GMH movement.

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Situating Global Mental Health: Sociocultural Perspectives

Cited by 19 publications

References 59 publications

Quantitative account of social interactions in a mental health care ecosystem: cooperation, trust and collective action

Quantitative account of social interactions in a mental health care ecosystem: cooperation, trust and collective action

War Experience, Daily Stressors and Mental Health Among the Inter-taliban Generation Young Adults in Northern Afghanistan: A Cross-Sectional School-Based Study

Communalistic use of psychoactive plants as a bridge between traditional healing practices and Western medicine: A new path for the Global Mental Health movement

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