Mental health problems cause a surprisingly substantial amount of suffering around the world. More than 450 million people are estimated to suffer from some form of mental illness. People afflicted with mental illness in developing countries often face extra challenges such as harassment, stigma, and inability to earn a living.
Delaney Ruston spent a lot of her early days as a physician working in clinics for the poor and disenfranchised, like Berkeley Free Clinic and, later, Seattle’s Pike Market Medial Clinic with a few of area’s leading and long-time health activists Les Pittle and Joe Martin. Partly as a result of her father’s schizophrenia, she’s now a documentary filmmaker advocating greater awareness of mental health needs globally.
It’s actually World Mental Health Day, and also Columbus Day. Neither of these calendrical milestones are likely to get much…
Health journalist Joanne Silberner, former health policy correspondent based at NPR’s flagship in DC and now (lucky for us) based…
Flickr, by Dierk Schaefer Seattle recently hosted a big international meeting in which many of the world’s leaders in the…
In the global health arena, mental health care is typically considered — or not considered at all, more accurately –…
Albert Einstein said the key to solving a problem is in how you define the problem. If critical problems in…
Neon BrainFlickr, by Dierk Schaefer Is it Kala-azar black fever? Elephantiasis? African sleeping sickness? Guinea worm? How about mental illness?…