Depression in Poor Nations: Guardian

Many experts once assumed that mental illness, especially, depression was concentrated in wealthy nations. In the 1990s, Vikram Patel, psychiatrist and researcher, set out to study if depression in Zimbabwe and other poor countries was actually a response to deprivation and injustice – conditions stemming from colonisation.” Traditional healers in Zimbabwe described “kufungisisa,” or excessive worry about a problem and reactions to poverty and other stresses,” reports Tina Rosenberg for the Guardian. Instead, patients described the classic symptoms of depression. Around the same time, the World Bank was conducting a study to determine how to allocate aid. The researchers found that mental disorders, while rarely listed as a cause of death, were the single largest cause of disability worldwide, often accompanying and complicating other illnesses. Yet treatment was largely unavailable in developing nations, with the World Health Organization reporting in 2005 that entire countries like Rwanda and Afghanistan had access to one or two psychiatrists. The article reviews community health programs with lay counselors trained for rural areas who provide interventions for every aspect of a patient’s life, including financial, social, employment and mental health. Medication as treatment is rare in developing nations. – YaleGlobal