*December 13, 2010* *Joanne Silberner*
[image: Children light candles in India] *Children light candles to observe India's first National Mental Health Awareness Day, in New Delhi on Aug. 6.* When stacked up against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other fast-moving, deadly diseases, mental illnesses don’t score as high<http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/06/10/127741091/mental-health-and-the-developing-world> with governments and philanthropies. One reason: the perception that tackling mental illness is too complicated and too costly. Now an intriguing study<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61508-5/abstract> in the online version of the medical journal *The Lancet* suggests that it’s not that hard to tackle some mental conditions. And what may help most of all are therapists with minimal training. Mental illnesses exact a heavy toll in developing countries, where they can make it even harder for people to provide for themselves and their families, as the World Health Organization found in an analysis<http://www.who.int/whr/2001/en/> . In India, there is only 1 psychiatrist<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126143778> for every 400,000 people, according to the Indian government. *The Lancet*study involved about 2,600 people in the state of Goa with common mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. About half were assigned case managers who had taken a two-month training course in mental health counseling. All of the patients in the study got whatever routine care was provided by private doctors or public clinics. And half of them had 6 to 12 meetings with the lay therapists. The therapists talked with them about their illnesses and problems, taught them coping mechanisms such as breathing exercises, and in some cases offered psychotherapy. In the public health clinics, 66 percent of the people who talked to the lay therapists recovered after six months, compared to 43 percent of people who got the standard care. The researchers call this "modest evidence of a beneficial effect" of using lay counselors. The approach, however, isn’t perfect – it turns out lay therapists are better at treating anxiety than depression. And at private clinics, where the standard of care was presumably higher to begin with, having a lay therapist around didn’t help much. Still, experts in the field say the approach suggests a new way to reduce the global burden of mental illness. The lead author of the study, Vikram Patel <http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/people/patel.vikram> of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says the hope is that NGOs and governments will consider the model as "an affordable and feasible framework" for improving standard primary health care. Recent First Oldest First Most Recommended [image: Rey Carr (ReyCarr)]<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=5452243> Rey Carr (ReyCarr)<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=5452243> wrote: The results for lay therapists are similar in North America although the terms used to describe the lay therapists are different: peer counsellors, peer support workers, or peer helpers. [image: saju mannarath (saju)]<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6619311> saju mannarath (saju)<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6619311> wrote: This study once again reiterates the role the community plays in the betterment of a person with mental illness - whether a lay person outside the family or the family itself. Unfortunately, even the recent draft Mental Health Care Act, 2010 of India does not give due focus on the role of community in 'treating' the 'ill'. [image: Heather Whistler (HeatherWhistler)]<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6072849> Heather Whistler (HeatherWhistler)<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6072849> wrote: I've found tremendous benefit from "lay therapy" in the form of a Twelve Step sponsor, so I can absolutely see how this type of movement would have a big impact. For serious mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, however, psychiatry is usually necessary. I also agree with Saju re: the role of community, and I actually wrote about it not too long ago on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/2fcjjea [image: April Wolff (jaocobreese)]<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=3142355> April Wolff (jaocobreese)<http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=3142355> wrote: I cannot emphasize enough how important this story is, to counter the ever spreadiing conception that mental illness, particularly schizophrenia and psychosis in general = homicidality. Especially sicce Fort Hood, the terms are used interchangably. (Though I don't know all the details, I've seen little evidence in the media that the perpetrator was psychotic.) Statistically, there is only a small increase in violence over the general population, almost all in Parnoid Schizophrenia. Most people can identify with anxiety and depression, having experienced them in a subclinical form. But fear of, and stigma towards all major mental illness, bipolar disorder and schizophrenica, especially, are escalating and the word "psychotic" is used widely in the media as a slur. Rosallyn Carter, who's worked diligently on this issue for 39 years, says it's geting worse. "Reinstitutionaliztion" leads to the mentally ill being imprisoned, where they are preyed on, since the big "snake pits" were closed and the community mental health facilities Kennedy favored, never were funded. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/12/14/132031411/lay-therapists-in-india-can-make-a-difference-in-mental-illness <http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6352149> <http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6352149> <http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6352149> <http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6352149> <http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6352149> <http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=6352149> <http://twitter.com/NPRHealth> <http://twitter.com/NPRHealth> <http://twitter.com/NPRHealth> <http://twitter.com/NPRHealth> <http://twitter.com/NPRHealth> <http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/12/14/132031411/lay-therapists-in-india-can-make-a-difference-in-mental-illness> Anupam Nath/AP Children light candles to observe India's first National Mental Health Awareness Day, in New Delhi on Aug. 6. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/12/14/132031411/lay-therapists-in-india-can-make-a-difference-in-mental-illness> close<http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/12/14/132031411/lay-therapists-in-india-can-make-a-difference-in-mental-illness> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
