Diversity in Global Mental Health

Mental illness occurs in all communities, regardless of social status, gender, race, or culture. Despite this, research in mental health historically has been biased towards Western-centric heterosexual male models of disease. Many models of service have excluded sexual and ethnic minorities and may not have been inclusive of different cultures or spiritual approaches. All of these factors may in turn isolate these communities and thus lead to an increased vulnerability to disease.

This brief explores the diversity of cultural, ethnic, social, and gender perspectives on how to achieve better mental health care for societies across the globe. The authors emphasize diversity focusing on lifespan aspects, while weaving in social, racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender perspectives. They further expand their analysis by zeroing in on prominent determinants in global mental health care, including globalization, international migration, specific population idiosyncrasies, climate change, and political context. Finally, it includes novel neurobiological and biomedical approaches to treatment, and a suggestions of how those can be implemented from the perspective of diversity and gender inclusiveness.

Diversity in Global Mental Health will be of great interest to experts and researchers in behavioral medicine, as well as practitioners and educators working in global mental health promotion and prevention of mental illness and related fields such as psychology, social policy, and public health.

Sabine Bährer-Kohler holds a Doctorate in Social Science (Dr. rer.soc) from the University of Tübingen, a Diploma in Education from the University of Education – Freiburg, and a Diploma in Social Work and Social Education from the Protestant University of Applied Sciences. Dr. Bährer-Kohler is currently an Invited Professor in the Tropical Neurology and Neuroinfection Masters program at the International University of Catalonia (UIC) in Barcelona. She has her own company in Basel, Switzerland focused on providing counseling to clients with burnout symptoms and provides training for companies and organizations in this mental health issue. Over the last ten years, she has lectured students worldwide on social factors influencing health, mental health promotion, and prevention, with a focus on global and international perspectives, and she lectures on sustainability and challenges of international social work. She is the International Federation of Social Workers Representative at the World Health Organization in Geneva, contributing to the ICD-10 revision process on the way to ICD-11. She also serves as president of the Swiss Association for Mental Health - Global Mental Health. 

Dr. Bolea has extensive experience in clinical psychiatry in diverse contexts having worked on both sides of the Atlantic. She has a PhD on maternal and child health (Bristol, UK) and a master’s degree on affective neuroscience (Maastricht, Holland). She has contributed to clinical guidelines in the UK and continental Europe . She has published on psychiatry epidemiology and psychopharmacology. She works on the Telepsychiatry Service at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and at Women’s College Hospital (WCH) in Toronto (Canada). She is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and a fellow at WCH’s Institute for Health systems Solutions and Virtual Care.