Breaking the chains: ethnographic film-making in mental health

A few years ago I took a break from my position as a researcher at the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit at the University of Melbourne to pursue further studies in visual anthropology. I wanted to develop my skills in using photography and film—two tools I am passionate about—as research instruments in my fields of interest, cultural psychiatry and global mental health. Harry Minas, the Unit director, had collaborated for several years with the Indonesian Ministry of Health; thanks to this support I was, albeit with a few hurdles, given access to research (by means of ethnographic film-documentary) an issue I felt strongly about: the violations of human rights of people with mental illness

Reviews: Applied visual anthropology: reflections from the RAI film festival 2017

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Comparison of Convective Overshooting Models and Their Impact on Abundances from Integrated Light Spectroscopy of Young (<< 3 Gyr) Star Clusters

As part of an ongoing program to measure detailed chemical abundances in nearby galaxies, we use a sample of young to intermediate age clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud with ages of 10 Myr to 2 Gyr to evaluate the effect of isochrone parameters, specifically core convective overshooting, on Fe abundance results from high resolution, integrated light spectroscopy. In this work we also obtain fiducial Fe abundances from high resolution spectroscopy of the cluster individual member stars. We compare the Fe abundance results for the individual stars to the results from isochrones and integrated light spectroscopy to determine whether isochrones with convective overshooting should be used in our integrated light analysis of young to intermediate age (10 Myr -3 Gyr) star clusters. We find that when using the isochrones from the Teramo group, we obtain more accurate results for young and intermediate age clusters over the entire age range when using isochrones without convective overshooting. While convective overshooting is not the only uncertain aspect of stellar evolution, it is one of the most readily parametrized ingredients in stellar evolution models, and thus important to evaluate for the specific models used in our integrated light analysis. This work demonstrates that our method for integrated light spectroscopy of star clusters can provide unique tests for future constraints on stellar evolution models of young and intermediate age clusters.Comment: 16 pages, accepted for publication in Ap

People of immigrant and refugee background sharing experiences of mental health recovery: reflections and recommendations on using digital storytelling

Ten individuals of immigrant or refugee background, who had experi- enced mental health or emotional issues, participated in an immersive workshop to create digital stories as part of a national multicultural men- tal health initiative. Known collectively as ‘Finding our way’, the stories combine the power of first-person narrative with digital technologies. Three years on, six workshop participants and two coordinators reflect on the project’s effects, and offer recommendations for conducting and evaluating similar projects in the future. Individuals experienced the proj- ect as personally empowering. The stories have been used to facilitate community and service-based conversations about diversity, mental health and recovery

Should compulsory admission to hospital be part of suicide prevention strategies?

The World Health Organization report Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative provides governments with guidance for comprehensive suicide prevention strategies. However, it does not mention the role that compulsory admission to hospital of psychiatric patients should have in policies for suicide prevention. This was a missed opportunity for international discussion and guidance about a measure that, although widely used, is becoming increasingly controversial in light of the existing evidence and human rights norms

Forgiveness in PTSD after man-made traumatic events: a systematic review

Forgiveness has proven to be beneficial for the physical and mental health of individuals. In sufferers of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after man-made traumatic events, it is often believed to have a positive effect to forgive the transgressor. This systematic review identifies and presents a summary ofthe literature into the association of symptoms of PTSD with forgiveness after man-made traumatic events. The bibliography databases EMBASE, PubMed/Medline, PsycInfo, PsycExtra, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The review shows significant differences between individual studies regarding the type of trauma, the setting, the forgiveness concept, and the measurement instruments used for PTSD and forgiveness. Only 1 study could not establish a significant correlation between forgiveness and PTSD symptoms. The other studies found that higher forgiveness levels were associated with lower PTSD-related symptoms scores, but other factors have to be taken into account, as demographic variables, the relationship between transgressor and survivor of trauma, the type and severity of trauma, and other variables were also shown to be relevant

Refugees, resettlement experiences and mental health: a systematic review of case studies

Objective: In 2017 the number of refugees around the world reached 25.4 million. These people make up one of the most vulnerable populations globally. This study aims to understand the strategies refugees used to cope with the impact on their mental health by the difficult pre- and post-resettlement circumstances they encountered. Methods: A systematic review of articles reporting case studies concerning adult refugees’ experiences in the hosting country. The electronic databases searched were: PubMed, The Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science. Eligible manuscripts were examined through a narrative synthesis. Results: Twenty-two articles fitted the inclusion criteria and four main themes were highlighted: reasons for fleeing; the impact of negative experiences on mental health; supportive experiences and coping strategies; and experiences of mental health treatment. Conclusions: Refugees present a significant impact on mental health due to pre- and post-migration experiences. The approach offered to this group and reported as the most effective to deal with such an impact was the multidimensional approach that, besides caring for the psychic aspects, contemplated the cultural context of each one, assisted in housing, employment, financial aid, support with learning the new language and social activities

A cross-cultural study of attitudes toward suicide among young people in India, Italy and Australia

Background: An understanding of the cultural aspects of suicidal behavior is essential for the development of culturally appropriate suicide prevention and intervention strategies. Aims: This study explored the attitudes toward youth suicide in 686 Italian, Indian and Australian undergraduate students (18-24 years old). Method: A 21-item suicide attitude inventory titled Attitude towards Youth Suicide (AtYS) Scale was used in the three samples. Results: Four factors were extracted, labelled negative attitudes toward suicide, belief that suicide was not preventable, suicide as acceptable and normal, and the existence of risk signs for suicide. Country differences were found for all four subscales, with Indian students having the most negative attitudes toward suicide. Sex differences were found in all three countries with women, on the whole, having less negative attitudes toward suicide, more belief in the preventability of suicide in India and more belief in risk signs for suicide in Italy. Conclusions: Attitudes are linked to suicide in a complex manner. More quantitative and qualitative studies, including in lower-income and non-English speaking Western societies, are needed

Recovering from mental illness and suicidal behaviour in a culturally diverse context: the use of digital storytelling in cross-cultural medical humanities and mental health

en people of immigrant and refugee background, with a lived experience of mental health or emotional issues, participated in a four-day digital storytelling workshop, to create a story that expressed something about their personal encounters with mental ill-health and recovery. As many other DST projects have done before, this project used the power of first-person narratives and provided an opportunity for ‘unheard voices to be heard’.The storytellers were supported to create their own accounts, share their experiences (in mainstream media, in policy and service settings, and for practitioner education), grow in self-confidence, and develop other capabilities.This chapter describes the DST process and discusses its impact from the perspective of the two project coordinators in consultation with six participants, five as storytellers and one support person. It also provides the perspective of a Mandarin-speaking participant in depth. The digital stories can be freely viewed at www.vtmh.org.au

Towards the development of ethics guidelines for visual psychology: a review of relevant visual research ethics guidelines

Visual research methods are increasingly popular within psychology and the social sciences. However, psychology has yet to develop its own specific ethics guidelines for visual research methods. Currently, psychologists undertaking visual and arts-based research draw on ethics guidelines developed by and for allied disciplines that have a more established tradition of visual research, such as visual anthropology and visual sociology. While many of the principles of existing ethics guidelines from allied disciplines are applicable to psychological projects, psychological research has a distinct focus and potential applications, which would benefit from the generation of a set of bespoke guidelines. These should reflect our discipline’s long standing commitment to ethical research practice, and critical stance towards the limitations of inflexible formalistic principles. This article reviews existing guidelines for visual research and provides recommendations for visual research ethics guidelines for psychology, including the importance of ‘staged’ consent, anonymity vs. identification, and an expanded field of consideration which may include participants as image producers and owners; the individuals captured in the images taken by participants or researchers; and the impact of the research on the eventual audiences for these images