Category: Global Mental Health - Beyond The Body

Beyond The Body

The Global Impact of Anxiety and Depression

3/1/2017

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report that examined the global health impact of common mental health issues including depression and anxiety. The report provides estimates of the prevalence of such conditions globally, and how these prevalence has changed in the last decade, in addition to the overall consequences on our health and well-being.

Most strikingly, the report demonstrates that over 300 million people worldwide or 4.4% of the global population are affected by depression; an increase of 18% in the last decade. In addition, the WHO has now ranked depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide (leading to 50 million Years Lived With Disability), due to the considerable losses on health and functioning it causes.

Anxiety disorders was also found to affect over 250 million people worldwide or 3.6% of the global population; an increase of 14.9% in the last decade. Anxiety disorders are ranked 6th in terms of contributing to global disability.
"When long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition leading, at its worst, to suicide. According to the report, some 800,000 people kill themselves every year, a significant number of them young adults between the ages of 15 and 29."

For the full report, click here:
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/254610/1/WHO-MSD-MER-2017.2-eng.pdf?ua=1

For a shorter synopsis of the report, visit:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56230#.WL3-zTveLVo

Using Art To Advocate For Mental Health In Black Communities

8/8/2016

Having experienced depression and anxiety firsthand, and living in a community in South Africa called Lebowakgomo, where mental illness is rarely discussed and more often ignored or misdiagnosed, photographer Tsuko Maela used his craft to help others suffering from mental health conditions.

His series, "Abstract Peaces", acts like a visual diary, chronicling "a person who was trying to breath during a very difficult time, trying to find themselves, trying to make sense of their struggle. And what they found was peace." Through his art, Maela hopes to help advocate for mental health, especially among the black communities in both South Africa and around the world. The biggest message Maela works depict is that there is no shame in mental illness, rather there is an opportunity to break the silence by sharing stories of experience, recovery, and hope.

""Growing up in a black community you quickly learn that there is a list of problems that do not ‘affect’ black people:
Mentally ill? Bewitched, or you simply study too hard.

Depressed? Lighten up, you’ve been watching way too many of those white teen movies.

Seeing a psychologist? You’re weak and should probably stop that before the neighbours find out.""

To check out this story and Maela's works of art click here:
http://10and5.com/…/using-photography-to-destigmatise-ment…/
http://abstractpeaces.tumblr.com

Global Mental Health - Indonesia and the Practice of 'Pasung'

3/21/2016

Photo by: Andrea Star Reese

Today, the Human Rights Watch released a shocking and disturbing report regarding the treatment of thousands of individuals living in Indonesia with ‪mental illness‬ and related disabilities. The report, aptly titled "Living In Hell", discusses how over 18,000-19,000 Indonesians live in "pasung", a practice that involves individuals being shackled and confined and forced to eat, sleep, defecate and urine in their small cell or room. While the Human Rights Watch report that these facilities put individuals at risk of physical ailments as well as physical and sexual abuse, they also report that treatments ranging from traditional herbal concoctions and rituals to ECT without anesthesia are forced onto those who live there.

Though the Indonesian government considered "pasung" inhumane and subsequently banned the use of the practice back in 1977, it continues to be utilized today. The report points to both the culturally held beliefs about mental illness, as well as an extreme lack of psychiatrists and mental healthcare facilities/services across the country as major barriers to more appropriate and humane mental health care.

"Across Indonesia, there is a widespread belief that mental health conditions are the result of possession by evil spirits or the devil, having sinned, displayed immoral behavior, or lacking faith. As a result, families typically first consult faith or traditional healers and often only seek medical advice as a last resort.

Even if they do look for access to medication, however, people may find it impossible to access it. Ministry of Health data shows that nearly 90 percent of those who may want to access mental health services cannot. The country of 250 million people has only 48 mental hospitals, more than half of them located in just four provinces of Indonesia’s 34 provinces. Eight provinces have no such hospitals, and three have no psychiatrists. In all of Indonesia there are just 600 to 800 psychiatrists—or one trained psychiatrist per 300,000 to 400,000 people. The few facilities and services that exist often do not respect the basic rights of people with psychosocial disabilities and contribute to the abuses against them."

You can read more about the report via the video below and the following articles and photo documentation:
https://www.hrw.org/node/287537
http://time.com/4265623/indonesia-mental-illness-chains-pasung-hrw/

Psych In The News - Week 84

11/29/2015

Catch up on all the news related to mental health and psychiatry from last week!

Global Mental Health - North Korea's Approach to Mental Illness

11/12/2015

While once rated one of the "happiest" countries in the world, it is not so surprising then that in North Korea ‪mental illness‬ is rarely discussed or heard of outside of politics.

However, in this interesting article below we gain a greater understanding of the ‪mental health‬ system in North Korea and how common mental illnesses are managed from isolating those with ‪schizophrenia‬ to treating ‪depression‬ as a physical rather than emotional or mental illness.

"Internal medicine doctors and neurologists rather than psychiatrists treat what are considered the less serious cases of mental duress. The North Koreans do not have a real concept of depression; the media rarely even use the term unless they are projecting it as one of a number of sicknesses endemic to a bourgeois capitalist society like America. Instead, the preferred terms for any kind of neuroticism are cardiac neurosis and neurasthenia (an outdated category of diagnosis in modern psychiatry). Conditions such as prolonged anxiety, insomnia or fatigue that in the West one might associate with a psychological condition are considered physical rather than mental ailments, and the treatment such as herbal medicine accordingly targets the body more than the mind."

For the full article click here: http://www.nknews.org/2014/12/a-look-into-the-dprk-mental-health-system/

Psych In The News - Week 83

11/8/2015

Catch up on all the news related to mental health and psychiatry from last week!

Psych In The News - Week 81

10/25/2015

Catch up on all the news related to mental health and psychiatry from last week!

The Diversity of Mental Illness

10/21/2015

‎Mental health‬ activist Dior Vargas recently founded an initiative called "People of Colour and Mental Illness Photo Project" which aims to "eradicate the ‪stigma‬ of mental illness within communities of colour and show a diverse representation of those who live with these conditions".

Prior to starting the project, Vargas had taken notice of how the media often fail to represent ‪mental illness‬ in other ethnicities besides Caucasian, and she wanted to set the record straight, in addition to encouraging conversation about mental illness among these communities and let affected individuals know that they are not alone.

While Vargas hopes to create a book with all the photos individuals have sent in the near future, you can see some of the photos and learn more about the project here:
http://diorvargas.com/poc-mental-illness/
http://www.buzzfeed.com/fionarutherford/this-photo-series-is-eradicating-the-stigma-of-mental-illnes#.ru2RwMG4Y

Global Mental Health: Traditional Healing and Western Myths

10/20/2015

In this interesting article, director of The University of British Columbia (UBC) Global Reporting Centre, Peter Klein shares how ‪mental illness‬ is perceived and treated in countries around the globe including India, Togo, Benin, and Somalia.

While those who inhabit the Western world may question the traditional healing methods employed in these countries and consider them to be futile if not harmful treatments founded upon little evidence, Klein shows us that we are not exempt even in Europe or North America with our beliefs in myths and harmful stigmatizing views of ‪mental health‬ conditions.

"We fear what we don’t understand, and the bottom line is that we still don’t understand many of the causes, or the treatments, of psychiatric conditions. As a result, we are plagued with shame around mental illness all over the world, but stigma is just the symptom. Ignorance is the cause. Science and education are the cure."

Psych In The News - Week 80

10/11/2015

Catch up on all the news related to mental health and psychiatry from last week!