This introductory module describes the current global context of mental health. Beginning with an outline of the current burden of mental disorders the module sets the stage by describing the historical background to the current situation and summarising recent developments in the understanding treatment and care of people with mental disorders. An analysis is provided of trends in global health reform and their implications for mental health. To illustrate how these global trends can be addressed by governments and to introduce the reader to the guidance package a summary is then provided of the modules in the guidance package. This module will enable readers to gain an understanding of the global context of mental health and to select which modules will be useful to them in their particular situations. Also available: 14-module package: WHO Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package - 14 modules Other modules included in the package: Improving Access and Use of Psychotropic Medicines Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policies and Plans Mental Health Policy Plans and Programmes. Updated version Mental Health Context Mental Health Financing Advocacy for Mental Health Quality Improvement for Mental Health Organization of Services for Mental Health Planning and Budgeting to Deliver Services for Mental Health Mental Health Legislation and Human Rights Mental Health Policies and Programmes in the Workplace Mental Health Information Systems Human Resources and Training in Mental Health Monitoring and Evaluation of Mental Health Policies and Plans

This book explores the development of mental health systems in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) of Samoa and Tonga through an examination of several policy transfer events from the colonial to the contemporary. Beginning in the 1990s, mental health became an area of global policy concern as reflected in concerted international organisation and bilateral aid and development agendas, most notably those of the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the governments of Australia and New Zealand. This book highlights how Tonga and Samoa both reformed their respective mental health systems during these years, after relatively long periods of stagnation. Using recent scholarship concerning public policy transfer, this book explains these policy outcomes and expands it to include consideration of the historical institutional dimensions evidenced by contemporary mental health systems. This book considers three distinct levels of policy implicated in mental health system transfer processes from developed to developing nations: colonial authority and influence; decolonisation processes; and the global development agenda surrounding health systems. In the process, the author argues that there are in fact three levels of policy change that must be accounted for in examining contemporary policy change. These policy levels include formal policy transfers, which tend to be prescriptive, involving professional problem construction and the designation of appropriate state apparatus for curative or custodial care provision; quasi-formal transfers, which tend to be aspirational and involve policy instruments developed through collaborative, participatory processes; and informal transfers that tend to be normative and include practices by professional actors in delivering service merged with traditional cultural beliefs as to disease aetiology as well as reflecting a deep understanding of the cultural context within which the services will be delivered. This book argues that a renewed focus on the importance of public policy and government institutional capacity is necessary to ensure human rights and justice are secured.

The academic field of behavioral science has developed rapidly in recent decades. The field draws on research from across the social and natural sciences, and it has consistently shown that humans are not always rational. This insight has had a profound impact on multiple fields, including economics, political science, and law. Since the early 2000s, the application of behavioral science to public policy has also grown exponentially. Policymakers and practitioners now regularly use behavioral science to rethink how they develop programs and solve social problems. The impact has been far-reaching; behavioral science has transformed how we think about the economy, public health, education, and beyond. In practice, behavioral insights have been used to raise tax revenues, help people access social welfare program benefits and employment opportunities, increase voter turnout, boost medication adherence, and more. There are now hundreds of entities – international organizations, governments, business, and nonprofits – building and investing in internal behavioral science teams. Unfortunately, most of the hard work of putting these teams together and applying behavioral science insights happens “behind the scenes.” This book unearths some of the stories and insights from pioneers in applied behavioral science, in their own words. How did their teams come about, and how did they grow? What projects have worked, and which have not? What have they learned, and what would they recommend to others seeking to build behavioral science teams of their own?

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.

The book is the result of several years of collaboration between experts from more than 19 countries and researchers in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The authors examine key findings on mental illness and mental health services; suicide; substance abuse; the mental health problems of women, children and the elderly; violence; dislocation; and health-related behavior in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. They recommend new actions in mental health services, in public health and public policy, as well as an agenda for research. For all who are interested in the global context of mental health and in development, this very readable volume with its numerous case studies, illustrations and tables will be an invaluable resource.

This Research Handbook is an essential guide to the design and use of research in mental health policy from a global perspective. It focuses on public mental health, as well as quasi-public and private policies in nations with significant private sectors.

The Social Determinants of Mental Health aims to fill the gap that exists in the psychiatric, scholarly, and policy-related literature on the social determinants of mental health: those factors stemming from where we learn, play, live, work, and age that impact our overall mental health and well-being. The editors and an impressive roster of chapter authors from diverse scholarly backgrounds provide detailed information on topics such as discrimination and social exclusion; adverse early life experiences; poor education; unemployment, underemployment, and job insecurity; income inequality, poverty, and neighborhood deprivation; food insecurity; poor housing quality and housing instability; adverse features of the built environment; and poor access to mental health care. This thought-provoking book offers many beneficial features for clinicians and public health professionals: Clinical vignettes are included, designed to make the content accessible to readers who are primarily clinicians and also to demonstrate the practical, individual-level applicability of the subject matter for those who typically work at the public health, population, and/or policy level. Policy implications are discussed throughout, designed to make the content accessible to readers who work primarily at the public health or population level and also to demonstrate the policy relevance of the subject matter for those who typically work at the clinical level. All chapters include five to six key points that focus on the most important content, helping to both prepare the reader with a brief overview of the chapter's main points and reinforce the "take-away" messages afterward. In addition to the main body of the book, which focuses on selected individual social determinants of mental health, the volume includes an in-depth overview that summarizes the editors' and their colleagues' conceptualization, as well as a final chapter coauthored by Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, that serves as a "Call to Action," offering specific actions that can be taken by both clinicians and policymakers to address the social determinants of mental health. The editors have succeeded in the difficult task of balancing the individual/clinical/patient perspective and the population/public health/community point of view, while underscoring the need for both groups to work in a unified way to address the inequities in twenty-first century America. The Social Determinants of Mental Health gives readers the tools to understand and act to improve mental health and reduce risk for mental illnesses for individuals and communities. Students preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will also benefit from this book, as the MCAT in 2015 will test applicants' knowledge of social determinants of health. The social determinants of mental health are not distinct from the social determinants of physical health, although they deserve special emphasis given the prevalence and burden of poor mental health.