This book provides practical guidance for mental health practitioners interested in global mental health volunteering. Featuring reflective accounts, advice and perspectives from those with first-hand experience, it will appeal to many clinicians, including psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs, nurses, primary care providers and students.

Over the course of the last decade, political and mental entities at large have embraced global mental health: the idea that psychiatric health is vital to improved quality of life. Physicians globally have implemented guidelines recommended by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 2007, thereby breaking down barriers to care and improving quality of life in areas where these practices have been implemented. Programs for training and education have expanded as a result. Clinicians benefit more from both local resources in some regions as well as in international collaboration and technological advancements. Even amidst all of these positive outcomes, clinicians still face some stumbling blocks. With worldwide statistics estimating that 450 million people struggle with mental, neuropsychiatric, and neurological disorders—25 percent of the world’s non-communicable disease burden—rising to these challenges prove to be no small feat, even in wealthy Western nations. Various articles and books have been published on global mental health, but few of them thoroughly cover the clinical, research, innovative, and social implications as they pertain to psychiatry; often, only one of these aspects is covered. A comprehensive text that can keep pace with the rapidly evolving literature grows more and more valuable each day as clinicians struggle to piece together the changes around the world that leave open the possibility for improved outcomes in care. This book seeks to boldly rectify this situation by identifying innovative models of service delivery, training, education, research funding, and payment systems that have proven to be exemplary in implementation and scalability or have potential for scalability. Chapters describe specific barriers and challenges, illuminating effective strategies for improved outcomes. This text is the first peer-reviewed resource to gather prestigious physicians in global mental health from around the world and disseminate their expertise in the medical community at large in a format that is updateable, making it a truly cutting-edge resource in a world constantly changed by medical, scientific, and technological advances. Innovations in Global Mental Health is the ultimate resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, primary care physicians, hospitalists, policy makers, and all medical professionals at the forefront of global mental health and its implications for the future.

This book uses engaging narratives to illustrate that mental illnesses are not only problems individuals face but problems that need to be understood and treated globally at the social and cultural levels.

Global Health and Volunteering: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals is designed to educate volunteers to be effective partners in delivering medical services locally and globally. Healthcare professionals are increasingly interested in global health and volunteering in areas of acute need. The biggest challenge to health in many locales is the inability to access the health care system. When people do connect with medical services, medications and surgical opportunities for chronic disease (i.e. glaucoma, diabetes, or hypertension) are often not affordable or cannot be sustained for a long period of time. The contributions in this book focus on a respectful dialog with local people and a willingness to learn from new experiences on the part of the volunteer. Skills transfer from visiting personnel to local providers is featured as a means to enhance healthcare sustainability. An appreciation of differing cultures, an understanding of the local economic conditions and challenges, and strategies for collaborating with the existing medical establishment are foundations of successful volunteer experiences as highlighted in this book. Dimensions of global health such as professionalism, religious beliefs, ethical dilemmas, traditional medicine, and alternative strategies for service are addressed by experts. Written and edited by leaders in the field, many of whom have more than two decades of experience volunteering abroad, Global Health and Volunteering: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals imparts lessons learned to help the reader avoid initial mistakes, while making the global health commitment stronger.

The enormous health and social burdens associated with mental disorders have global reach and persist in the setting of unmet needs. To address these, the pipeline of global mental health trainees must be expanded and nurtured as the next generation of practitioners, investigators, and educators advance innovation in mental health prevention, promotion, and health delivery. This book offers a much-needed introduction to the rapidly evolving field of global mental health. The editors bring their extensive expertise and experience in global mental health research, practice, and training, which includes working in academic and non-profit settings, building collaborations, and teaching hundreds of students and trainees. The volume’s 12 chapters - authored by over 60 contributors from multiple disciplines - offer a breadth of content that comprises an introductory framework. This volume is an essential read for learners and educators who seek to explore or deepen their interest in the field of global mental health. Its orientation to fundamentals of practice and training and contextualization with social science perspectives will also be invaluable to health professionals, social scientists, policymakers, and other professionals who are invested in training the next generation of global mental health practitioners.

This volume addresses gaps in the existing literature of global mental health by focusing on the ethical considerations that are implicit in discussions of health policy. In line with trends in clinical education around the world today, this text is explicitly designed to draw out the principles and values by which programs can be designed and policy decisions enacted. It presents an ethical lens for understanding right and wrong in conditions of scarcity and crisis, and the common controversies that lead to conflict. Additionally, a focus on the mental health response in “post-conflict” settings, provides guidance for real-world matters facing clinicians and humanitarian workers today. Global Mental Health Ethics fills a crucial gap for students in psychiatry, psychology, addictions, public health, geriatric medicine, social work, nursing, humanitarian response, and other disciplines.

Minding the Mind by Mridula Seth is a first-hand experience guide that delves into the excitement and challenges of volunteering in mental health advocacy. It describes the silent sufferings of persons with mental illness (PMIs) and how they cope with self-stigma and negative social attitudes. It delineates problems faced by caregivers and their search for the rehabilitation facilities as a solution. There is need for such facilities, early diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses. Why are people reluctant to talk about their mental health problems? What are the challenges faced by NGOs running rehab facilities? Why is it difficult to get funds from the corporate sector for mental health? Minding the Mind is a journey and a search for answers, for more questions to be raised, by Mridula Seth, an advocate for social causes, and a volunteer with an NGO running a halfway home for PMIs. The aim of this book is to bring more volunteers, especially the youth and caregivers, to serve as advocates to break the silence, and create an environment for advocacy on mental health.

This is the definitive textbook on global mental health, an emerging priority discipline within global health, which places priority on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people worldwide.