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The New York Times – January 10, 2010
Summary: The New York Times recently published an essay by Ethan Watters, adapted from his book “Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche.” In this essay, Watters argues that one of the effects of American-led globalization is “Americanizing the world’s understanding of mental health and illness.” Recent research has suggested that mental illnesses have never been the same throughout the world, but are “inevitably sparked and shaped by the ethos of particular times and places.” According to Watters, “For more than a generation now, we in the West have aggressively spread our modern knowledge of mental illness around the world.” The effect of this, he argues, has been to export not only the treatments, but also the expression of mental illness in other cultures. He believes that “mental illness is an illness of the mind and cannot be understood without understanding the ideas, habits and predispositions – the idiosyncratic cultural trappings – of the mind that is its host.”

The Guardian – December 9, 2009
Summary: Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, writes about his vision for mental health services in the UK. McCulloch points out that, ten years ago, the National Service Framework (NSF) was launched in the UK. This framework was a new approach to detailed policy-making in healthcare. This marked a major victory for mental health advocates in that one of the three priorities of this initiative was mental health and demonstrated that its importance had been recognized. Since then, mental health services in England have been at least partly transformed, and resources increased by about 50%. Despite this significant progress, McCulloch argues that the enormous need is still not being met. “Mental illness costs the UK economy £100bn a year, and one in four adults experience a mental health problem each year”, he states. After a 2-year collaboration between the mental health sector and the government, New Horizons, a vision for mental health, has been launched. This program is important for several reasons: it understands that good mental health can be delivered only by cross-government action, it highlights the need for a mentally healthy population, and it acknowledges the fact that our mental health is important to all of us. “When is comes to helping those with a severe or enduring mental illness, the vision advocates a recovery-based approach. This means services will need to support individuals to rebuild their lives and achieve the goals they want…..The next stage must be to work on the specifics, but the challenge will be to do with so little resource.”

The Globe and Mail – October 31, 2009
Summary: According to a recent article in The Globe and Mail, the cost of mental illness to the Canadian economy is enormous – $51 billion a year. This includes $5 billion in direct medical costs, $9.3 billion in lost productivity due to short-term sick leave, $8.5 billion in lost productivity due to long-term disability and $28 billion attributed to “reductions in health-related quality of life”. Some other staggering statistics quoted in the article are:

• 500,000 Canadians every day are absent from work due to psychiatric and psychological problems.
• 40% of all disability claims involve mental health conditions.
• 18 % of workers in Canada have had a diagnosis of clinical depression.
  In addition, the World Health Organization estimates that “by 2020, depression will be the leading cause of disability on the planet.

ABC News – October 21, 2009
Summary: Actress Glenn Close is speaking out for the first time on television about mental illness in her own family and is teaming up with her sister, Jessie, in a public service campaign to promote a dialogue about a condition that the actress believes we should “talk about as openly as cancer or diabetes.” Jessie Close has bipolar disorder and Jessie’s son, Calen Pick, has schizo-affective disorder. Glenn Close is also the creator of BringChange2Mind, an organization with the purpose of raising awareness about mental illness and providing support and information to those affected. Jessie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 47, “after living with it probably her whole life,” said her sister. Her son was diagnosed at the age of 15 with schizo-affective disorder, which means he has both schizophrenia and bipolar disease. Jessie’s message to others is to “be patient with yourself, love yourself” and rely on the support of family and friends.

The Huffington Post – October 21, 2009
Summary: In an article in The Huffington Post, award-winning actress Glenn Close talks about the stigma of mental illness. Close’s own family has been deeply affected by mental illness: her sister suffers from bipolar disorder and her nephew from schizo-affective disorder. She writes, “There has, in fact, been a lot of depression and alcoholism in my family and, traditionally, no one ever spoke about it. It just wasn’t done. The stigma is toxic.” Despite progress with medicine and therapy to treat mental illness, the social stigma remains intact. What our society needs is more openness, candor and conversation about mental illness. We need to promote the understanding that many people, given the right treatment, can be full participants in our society. Close has started a non-profit organization, BringChange2Mind, to encourage open discussion about mental illness and to break through the silence and fear.

BBC News – September 2, 2009
Summary: BBC News reports that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression will be the biggest health burden on society within 20 years. Over 450 million people currently are affected by mental disorders or disabilities. Dr. Shekhar Saxena of the Department of Mental Health at the WHO told the BBC that “WHO figures clearly show that the burden because of depression is likely to increase – so much so that in 2030 this will be the single biggest cause for burden out of all health conditions.” Dr. Saxena describes depression as a “silent epidemic” which will be a serious problem for developing countries in particular since they have fewer resources to allocate to mental health. Some startling facts about this “silent epidemic”:

• About half of mental disorders begin before the age of 14
• Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents are estimated to have mental disorders or problems
• Most low- and middle-income countries have only one child psychiatrist for every 1 to 4 million people
• About 800,000 people commit suicide every year, 86% of them in low – and middle-income countries
• More than half of the people who kill themselves are between 15 and 44
• The highest suicide rates are found among men in eastern European countries 

Source: WHO

Since the expectation is that the societal burden from mental illness is on the rise, Dr Saxena emphasizes the importance of changing societal attitudes towards mental illness. “Depression is as much of a disease as any other physical disease that people suffer from and they have a right to get correct advice and treatment within the same health care settings which look after other health conditions.”