Unseen : Field Notes of a Global Psychiatrist

Stigma still surrounds suffering from mental health problems, and in most low-resource settings in "developed" and especially the "developing" world, this prejudice is compounded by an utter lack of resources to address these problems. The class of mental health problems is the greatest source of morbidity worldwide compared to all other categories of health problems and is also the most neglected. The difference between the vast mental health needs worldwide and the scarce resources that address them is known as the "mental health gap." This book portrays this gap through the story of two men suffering from schizophrenia and clinical depression in an unnamed low-income country. At the same time, it portrays how "there" can be "anywhere" by providing glimpses of the mental health issues of a relief worker’s mother back home.

This book relies on the stories of Sam and Berko to bring alive the mental health gap and raise awareness of the all too often "unseen" presence of mental illness throughout the world, a problem that contributes to enormous suffering and disability without ever showing up on an X-ray or in blood tests, let alone in public discourse. The book aspires to educate on the mental health gap by showing rather than telling and using narrative rather than epidemiology and statistics. It will inspire mental health professionals to apply their craft outside of customary areas of mental health practice; policy makers and government planners to better allocate protections and resources to mental health problems; the public to advocate for change; and everyone to reflect on the sources of our distress and our contentment.