While there is increasing political interest in research and policy-making for global mental health, there remain major gaps in the education of students in health fields for understanding the complexities of diverse mental health conditions. Drawing on the experience of many well-known experts in this area, this book uses engaging narratives to illustrate that mental illnesses are not only problems experienced by individuals but must also be understood and treated at the social and cultural levels. The book -includes discussion of traditional versus biomedical beliefs about mental illness, the role of culture in mental illness, intersections between religion and mental health, intersections of mind and body, and access to health care; -is ideal for courses on global mental health in psychology, public health, and anthropology departments and other health-related programs.
Brandon A. Kohrt is a medical anthropologist and psychiatrist. He is Assistant Professor of Global Health and Psychiatry at Duke University. He conducts global mental health research focusing on populations affected by war-related trauma and chronic stressors of poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to healthcare and education. He has worked in Nepal for 16 years using a biocultural developmental perspective integrating epidemiology, cultural anthropology, ethnopsychology, and neuroendocrinology. With Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, he designed and evaluated psychosocial reintegration packages for child soldiers in Nepal. He currently works with The Carter Center Mental Health Liberia Program developing anti-stigma campaigns and family psychoeducation programs. He was a Laughlin Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and a John Spiegel Fellow of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture (SSPC). Kohrt has contributed to numerous documentary films including Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army.
Emily Mendenhall is an assistant professor of global health in the Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA) Program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She has conducted cross-cultural research on the syndemics of poverty, depression, and diabetes among vulnerable populations in urban India, Kenya, South Africa, and United States. She published this research as a book titled
Syndemic Suffering: Social Distress, Depression, and Diabetes among Mexican Immigrant Women, and she has published peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Social Science & Medicine, Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, Medical Anthropology, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, PLoS One, and Global Health Action. Her most recent research examines the convergence of multiple social and health problems among those seeking medical care at a public hospital clinic buttressing the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. She also leads a non-profit organization that develops books on global health inequality.
