World Mental Health Problems and Priorities in Low-Income Countries

This timely volume describes the emergence of a crisis in world mentalhealth. It analyzes the growing burden of mental, behavioral and social problemsin low-income countries, examines the sources of the substantial morbidity ratesand their relation to development, and assesses current efforts to cope withthem. It identifies opportunities for effective mental health interventions,methods of treatment, culturally appropriate prevention programs, and soundpolicy formation. It relates the mental health consequences of violence,dislocation, poverty, and the disenfranchisement of women to the most pressingeconomic, political, and environmental problems of our time. Because many of theproblems reviewed in this Report occur in both low-income and high-incomesocieties, fruitful comparison and collaboration between North and South canlead to mental health policies that can be applied in many settings.The book is the result of several years of collaboration between expertsfrom more than 19 countries and researchers in the Department of Social Medicineat Harvard Medical School. The authors examine key findings on mental illnessand mental health services; suicide; substance abuse; the mental health problemsof women, children and the elderly; violence; dislocation; and health-relatedbehavior in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. They recommend newactions in mental health services, in public health and public policy, as wellas an agenda for research. For all who are interested in the global context ofmental health and in development, this very readable volume with its numerouscase studies, illustrations and tables will be an invaluable resource.

n 1 c The Global Context of Well-Being n 2 c Mental Illness and Psychiatric Services n 3 c Suicide n 4 c Substance Abuse n 5 c Violence n 6 c Dislocation n 7 c Children and Youth n 8 c Women n 9 c The Elderly n 10 c Behavior and Health n 11 c Conclusions and an Agenda for Action n 12 c An Agenda for Research