The capabilities approach: fostering contexts for enhancing mental health and wellbeing across the globe

Concerted efforts have been made in recent years to achieve equity and equality in mental health for all people across the globe. This has led to the emergence of Global Mental Health as an area of study and practice. The momentum that this has created has contributed to the development, implementation and evaluation of services for priority mental disorders in many low- and middle-income countries. This paper discusses two related issues that may be serving to limit the success of mental health initiatives across the globe, and proposes potential solutions to these issues. First, there has been a lack of sophistication in determining what constitutes a ‘good outcome’ for people experiencing mental health difficulties. Even though health is defined and understood as a state of ‘wellbeing’ and not merely an absence of illness, mental health interventions tend to narrowly focus on reducing symptoms of mental illness. The need to also focus more broadly on enhancing subjective wellbeing is highlighted. The second limitation relates to the lack of an overarching theoretical framework guiding efforts to reduce inequalities and inequities in mental health across the globe. This paper discusses the potential impact that the Capabilities Approach (CA) could have for addressing both of these issues. As a framework for human development, the CA places emphasis on promoting wellbeing through enabling people to realise their capabilities and engage in behaviours that they subjectively value. The utilization of the CA to guide the development and implementation of mental health interventions can help Global Mental Health initiatives to identify sources of social inequality and structural violence that may impede freedom and individuals’ opportunities to realise their capabilities

ALMA detection of dark chromospheric holes in the quiet Sun

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of a quiet-Sun region at a wavelength of 3 mm, obtained during the first solar ALMA cycle on April 27, 2017, and compare them with available chromospheric observations in the UV and visible as well as with photospheric magnetograms. ALMA images clearly reveal the presence of distinct particularly dark/cool areas in the millimeter maps having temperatures as low as 60% of the normal quiet Sun at 3 mm, which are not seen in the other data. We speculate that ALMA is sensing cool chromospheric gas, whose presence had earlier been inferred from infrared CO spectra.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The chromosphere above sunspots at millimeter wavelengths

Aims: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that millimeter wave data can be used to distinguish between various atmospheric models of sunspots, whose temperature structure in the upper photosphere and chromosphere has been the source of some controversy. Methods: We use observations of the temperature contrast (relative to the quiet Sun) above a sunspot umbra at 3.5 mm obtained with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA), complemented by submm observations from Lindsey & Kopp (1995) and 2 cm observations with the Very Large Array. These are compared with the umbral contrast calculated from various atmospheric models of sunspots. Results: Current mm and submm observational data suggest that the brightness observed at these wavelengths is low compared to the most widely used sunspot models. These data impose strong constraints on the temperature and density stratifications of the sunspot umbral atmosphere, in particular on the location and depth of the temperature minimum and the location of the transition region. Conclusions: A successful model that is in agreement with millimeter umbral brightness should have an extended and deep temperature minimum (below 3000 K). Better spatial resolution as well as better wavelength coverage are needed for a more complete determination of the chromospheric temperature stratification above sunspot umbrae.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures. http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2014/01/aa21321-13/aa21321-13.htm

The relationship between chromospheric emissions and magnetic field strength

Aims. We analyze observational data from 4 instruments to study the correlations between chromospheric emission, spanning the heights from the temperature minimum region to the middle chromosphere, and photospheric magnetic field. Methods: The data consist of radio images at 3.5 mm from the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA), UV images at 1600 A from TRACE, Ca II K-line filtergrams from BBSO, and MDI/SOHO longitudinal photospheric magnetograms. For the first time interferometric millimeter data with the highest currently available resolution are included in such an analysis. We determine various parameters of the intensity maps and correlate the intensities with each other and with the magnetic field. Results: The chromospheric diagnostics studied here show a pronounced similarity in their brightness structures and map out the underlying photospheric magnetic field relatively well. We find a power law to be a good representation of the relationship between photospheric magnetic field and emission from chromospheric diagnostics at all wavelengths. The dependence of chromospheric brightness on magnetic field is found to be different for network and internetwork regions.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, 3 table