Eligible applicants include residents, trainees in post-residency clinical fellowships or other health-related post-doctoral programs, &/or those within 3 years of last major degree training (e.g. registrar, residency, fellowship, doctoral program).
This time, it's 3-questions-for Vikram Patel, Professor of International Mental Health & Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Sangath in Goa, India. While we spoke specifically about the training of psychiatrists, this advice is valid for anyone trained as a mental health specialist provider.
We've got lots of exciting things happening at SEWW. Here are ten quick ways to join us:
1. If you haven't done so already, please register here on our website.
2. Donate a little cash. Even $5 will help build our grant budget. We're a 501(c)(3) so it's tax deductible if you're in the U.S. E-mail us and we'll tell you how (
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3. Start a thread or keep one going on our interactive forums . If you're a psychiatry resident or otherwise qualified, we also need forum moderators. E-mail us if you'd like to be a moderator (
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9. Volunteer to give your expertise, time, and/or financial support when you join our Board of Directors or Advisory Committee. Whatever you do well, we could use you! (
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Kleinman's "Secret History" Insists on Action by Pamela Collins
Professor Arthur Kleinman, anthropologist and psychiatrist, delivered a provocative message in his presentation, "The Secret History of Global Mental Health," at the April 2009 gathering of the New York International Mental Health Interest Group.
"No group of patients in the world is as stigmatized and bereft as the untreated mentally ill," Kleinman said, with quiet emphasis. He chastized the field of psychiatry for its lack of action on behalf of people with mental illness in low- and middle-income countries. Among the obstacles to action, he listed the "absence of a sufficient number of professionals who actually commit their careers to global mental health or can find the resources to commit their careers to global mental health" and the absence of funding to support research and training needs.
Kleinman encouraged the "robust evaluation of demonstration projects" and bemoaned the lack of commitment to scaling up existing demonstration projects. He alluded to the work of Jim Kim, Paul Farmer and others, whose actions on behalf of people with AIDS in poor countries contributed to the introduction and scaling up of AIDS treatment in sub-Saharan Africa and other settings.
Despite the difficulties of pursuing a global mental health career, Kleinman called for "antiheroic" action. He explained that these were "people who are willing to step out of the ordinary and do the non-conventional, recognizing that there's a small chance they'll have a game changing effect." Kleinman noted that these people provide something else, "they become a moral exemplar, taking the road less traveled." He reminded the social workers, psychology interns, psychiatric residents, anthropologists and psychiatrists that the field needed people "who recognized that their contribution would be small, that their involvement does not yet capture the spirit of the times." He warned that career advancement was not the reason to pursue this field; rather, a moral commentment to change the world.
Division of Global Psychiatry Named for Dr. Chester Pierce
On April 22, 2009 the Massachusetts General Hospital celebrated the naming of its global psychiatry program for Harvard Medical School Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Chester M. Pierce. Pierce is also Emeritus Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard. The Chester M. Pierce Global Psychiatry Division, founded in 2003 by Dr. Pierce and Dr. Gregory Fricchione, is the first global psychiatry division to be established in the U.S. The division provides training and service opportunities in multiple countries.
Dr. Pierce realized a longstanding dream when he organized the 2002 conference on mental health of the African Diaspora at Mass General. Delegates from around the world gathered to discuss the mental health needs of black populations and the most challenging social contextual issues influencing mental health in their settings. The Global Psychiatry Division was founded shortly thereafter.
After listening to speakers review the highlights of his distinguished career, Pierce told the audience, "You've made me feel like a noble."
