A New Era in Mental Health Care in Vanuatu

Inequity in health-care delivery for those with mental illness is widespread throughout low- and middle-income countries. In the Pacific Island countries there are many barriers to addressing the growing mental health burden. In an effort to address this problem, the WHO is coordinating the Pacific Islands Mental Health Network involving 18 countries in the Pacific region with the financial support of New Zealand Aid (NZAid). JB and DP have developed and presented mental health training to health professionals, community leaders, and social service personnel in an environment in Vanuatu that is very different from that of their usual Australian-based general practices. They discuss evidence for their work, an outline of the programme, some difficulties working across different cultures, and the enthusiasm with which the training has been greeted. Vanuatu is now well on its way to addressing the inequity of access to mental health care with a culturally appropriate and self-sustaining mental health workforce

INFLUENZA VACCINE PREVALENCE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH INFLUENZA VACCINATION AMONG CANADIAN ADULTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE CCHS DATA

Individuals with mental illness are at high-risk for influenza (flu) and reduced receipt of preventive services i.e., flu vaccination. Yet, literature is limited on flu vaccination among this population. This study identifies flu vaccine rates and explores factors associated with having a flu vaccine among adults with mood/anxiety disorders living in 4 Canadian provinces. Data from the 2017-2018 Canadian Community Health Survey were analyzed. Of the mental illness sample, 65.1% received a flu vaccine in their lifetime. Of those, 55.9% received it less than 1 year ago. Those more likely to receive a lifetime flu vaccine are 60 years +, females, have higher education and household incomes, chronic comorbidities, non-smokers, non-sedentary behaviours, had relationships, primary care access, and lived in Alberta health regions. Findings highlight that Canadians with mental illness may need support to receive annual flu vaccines, and health interventions should target these specific factors to promote flu vaccination.Mental illness, Influenza vaccination, Health Promotion Mode

Sexual Assault of Women and Adolescent Girls with Mental Disabilities

This Report considers the research that addresses the sexual assault of women (age 18+) and adolescent girls (12-17) with mental disabilities (disabilities that affect cognition and decision-making, including intellectual disabilities present from birth, dementia, brain injury and certain psychiatric conditions.) These victims are targeted for sexual violence at rates even higher than for women generally. Yet when these women report abuse to authorities, the criminal trial process struggles to provide them with justice, while the consequences of disclosure can be severe and participation in the criminal justice process particularly traumatizing for them

Dismantling Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy: A Pilot Study to Identify the Active Ingredients

Chronic depression affects approximately 6% of the world’s population, and according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – Fifth Edition, chronic depression is a disorder known today as persistent depressive disorder. It presents with a chronic clinical course of greater than 2 years and exhibits at least two of the following symptoms: appetite increase or decrease, insomnia or hypersomnia, low energy or fatigue, low self-esteem, poor concentration or difficulty making decisions, and feelings of hopelessness. The negative effects of chronic depression and the need for an effective treatment for patients with a persistent depressive disorder are important concerns for the mental health community and the general community at large. This study will investigate a recent therapy model, the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy, which empirical research has repeatedly validated as an effective treatment for persistent depressive disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy involves two distinct treatment ingredients: (a) a problem-solving strategy labeled Situational Analysis, and (b) a therapist role ingredient known as Interpersonal Discrimination Exercise, which helps patients perceptually differentiate the psychotherapist from toxic, maltreating significant others who have harmed the patient and contributed to the onset of the disorder. Research has yet to dismantle the two active ingredients to determine if one or both contribute to the previously reported significant treatment effects. This pilot investigation used an intensive case study design to address the dismantling question as it compares the two components when administered separately and when administered together. Keywords: CBASP, depression, chronic depression, therap

Mobile phones as medical devices in mental disorder treatment: an overview

Mental disorders can have a significant, negative impact on sufferers’ lives, as well as on their friends and family, healthcare systems and other parts of society. Approximately 25 % of all people in Europe and the USA experience a mental disorder at least once in their lifetime. Currently, monitoring mental disorders relies on subjective clinical self-reporting rating scales, which were developed more than 50 years ago. In this paper, we discuss how mobile phones can support the treatment of mental disorders by (1) implementing human–computer interfaces to support therapy and (2) collecting relevant data from patients’ daily lives to monitor the current state and development of their mental disorders. Concerning the first point, we review various systems that utilize mobile phones for the treatment of mental disorders. We also evaluate how their core design features and dimensions can be applied in other, similar systems. Concerning the second point, we highlight the feasibility of using mobile phones to collect comprehensive data including voice data, motion and location information. Data mining methods are also reviewed and discussed. Based on the presented studies, we summarize advantages and drawbacks of the most promising mobile phone technologies for detecting mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorder. Finally, we discuss practical implementation details, legal issues and business models for the introduction of mobile phones as medical devices

In a Stranger\u27s Shoes: Reducing mental illness stigma through perspective-taking

The purpose of this project was to test a perspective-taking intervention for reducing prejudice toward mental illness and AIDS (used as a comparison group). Research within social psychology indicates that perspective-taking (defined as the process of viewing the world through another‖s eyes) leads to increased empathy and decreased prejudice toward the outgroup. Yet, while such interventions have proven successful with a number of prejudices, they had not been applied to mental illness stigma. This study aimed to address this gap. A second goal of this project was to explore the theoretical mechanisms underlying perspective-taking, namely: empathy, self-other overlap, and attributions. A unique study-design enabled us to address whether changes in attributions were reflective of a perceptual shift toward the salience of the situation or were indicative of a self-bias pattern. After pilot-testing the materials, 185 participants listened to interviews of a (fictional) woman describing her experience with bipolar disorder or AIDS. Approximately 1/3 were randomly assigned to take the other‖s perspective, 1/3 were told to be objective, and 1/3 were given no instructions. Participants then completed a series of dependent measures tapping empathy, self-other overlap, attributions, social distance toward the target, behavioral intentions toward the outgroup (in the form of budget cuts), and other measures. In both the AIDS and the mental illness scenario, those in the perspective-taking group reported less social distance and less group prejudice, as well as more empathy and self-other overlap than those in the objective condition. The “no instructions” condition mirrored the perspective-taking group on most variables. Attributions differed significantly between groups v and followed a pattern indicative of self-bias, but with most of the action centered on blaming attributions, which were decreased in the perspective-taking condition. Path analyses run using SEM revealed that empathy, self-other overlap, and blaming attributions all partially mediated the relationship between perspective-taking and improved social distance. Yet, for group prejudice empathy emerged as the only partial mediator. These results are discussed in terms of the implications for prejudice research, perspective-taking theories, and the practical task of reducing mental illness stigma

Development and Validation of a Brief Assessment of Social Cognitive Abilities

It has been consistently found that individuals with schizophrenia exhibit impairments across various social cognitive domains, including emotion processing, social perception, and theory of mind. These deficits have been found across illness stages and cannot be accounted for by clinical symptomatology or neurocognitive skills. Further, while it has been well established that there is a link between cognition and functional outcome, social cognition has been found to be uniquely related to functional impairment in the disorder. Despite this evidence, the field is currently lacking efficient ways to identify and characterize these deficits in clinical settings. The Brief Test of Social Cognitive Abilities (BTSCA) was developed in the current study in order to provide a quick, easy to administer test to assess social cognitive abilities in clinical settings. Following the development of the BTSCA from archival item-level data of NCs and individuals with schizophrenia on established social cognitive measures, psychometric properties of the scale and sensitivity of the scale to social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia were examined in a large sample of normal controls and individuals with schizophrenia. Finally, the relationship between the BTSCA, clinical symptomatology, and functional capacity were examined in order to establish clinical utility of the scale. Overall, study findings demonstrate that the BTSCA shows promising psychometric properties and clinical utility as a brief screening measure of social cognitive abilities in individuals with schizophrenia