Spring Global Mental Health Course

Global Mental Health is now a permanent course that is cross listed in Global Health, Psychology, and the Jackson School of International Studies. We will be meeting Spring quarter on Mondays from 12:30 to 3:20 at the South Campus Center. We still have spots open under the Global Health (in the time schedules 2/23 as GH 456/556) and Jackson School course numbers.

GH 456/556;PSYCH 448 B;JSIS 478 D (3 credits):
Global Mental Health

This course is designed for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students interested in pursuing work at the crossroads of the Health Sciences (e.g. Medicine, Nursing, Social Work, Public Health) and the Social Sciences (e.g. Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Area Studies). The course will examine the socio-cultural and political forces that impact the assessment, manifestation, and impact of mental illnesses on individuals in this region. Students will take a critical view of diagnostic systems and examine the scientific research suggesting culturally specific, systematic differences in presentation of mental illnesses worldwide. We will examine methodological questions, such as the use of Kleinman’s “explanatory models of illness” paradigm as a tool in cross-cultural psychiatric research. We will also review clinical and treatment practices when working with people with mental illnesses from low resource settings. Specifically, students will explore topics around task sharing, culturally-specific communication styles, idioms of social relatedness, emotional expression, familial structure, stigma, and power dynamics, as these can impact clinical assessment and interventions. Course readings will be supplemented with audio-visual materials, didactic sessions, active discussion, and student presentations.

We will be covering the following topics:

The Global Burden of Mental Illness
Mental Health and Societal Inequalities
Culturally Appropriate Assessment
Culturally Appropriate Treatments and Medical Dualism Global Child and Adolescent Mental Health Implementation Science and Task Sharing Mental Health Services Women and Mental Health Stigma and Stigma Reduction Approaches Torture and Refugee Mental Health

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