NPR: Using lay therapists to deal with mental illness in India
Flickr, by Dierk Schaefer
Neon Brain
In the global health arena, mental health care is typically considered — or not considered at all, more accurately — as infeasible for poor communities compared to the more pressing disease burdens of physical illness like AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, malnutrition and the like.
But as I’ve written here before, the burden of mental illness in the developing world is massive and many experts are exploring innovative ways to bring mental health care to poor communities.
For example, NPR’s Joanne Silberner reports on the use of lay people doing mental health therapy in India. Silberner’s report is based on a new study in the Lancet that found people suffering from anxiety or depression can be assisted by therapists with minimal training. Says Silberner:
In India, there is only one psychiatrist for every 400,000 people, according to the Indian government. The Lancet study involved about 2,600 people in the state of Goa with common mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. About half were assigned case managers who had taken a two-month training course in mental health counseling.
For another example, take a look at my post “The most neglected disease in global health” about a pair of local experts training locals to treat PTSD in Iraq, Congo and Cambodia for another example.
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- PRI's Joanne Silberner on Mental illness in Uganda
- Why is mental illness so low on the global health agenda?
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