[MUSIC] Hi, I'm Bill Eaton and I'm professor in the Department of Mental Health. And, this is the department. I, I teach the course psychiatric epidemiology in the department and now I'm leading the course in major depression in the population. >> My name is Ramin Mojtabai and I am a psychiatrist and, I am also an associate professor in the Department of Mental Health, of Bloombergs school of Public Health. >> Hi, my name is Wietse Tol, I'm an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mental Health. >> In the course I teach Psychiatric Epidemiology. I teach the Epidemiologic aspects of depression. So, for example, the prevalence of depression. Incidents of depression. Natural history, risk factors for depression. Trying to figure out how we can understand it and prevent it. >> So I'm really interested in global mental health. And, particularly in preventive interventions within the field of global mental health. So I don't focus so much on treatment, for people who have actual mental disorders. But I focus more on doing things so that people don't develop mental disorders in the first place. >> I'm a mental health services researcher, and much of my work has focused on barriers to care, reasons for seeking treatment, and reasons for not seeking treatment, among people who have mental health problems. So, My focus in this course is to talk about treatments for depression what is available, what are the trans in use of these treatments and services and what are the barriers to getting treatment. >> Major depression is a collection of signs and symptoms. It's more than just sadness. It involves, symantic symptoms like sleep problems. and, eating problems, appetite problems, concentration problems, fatigue. So it's a bodily, it has bodily manifestations as well as sadness. And that collection of characteristics is important. It's risky for future, physical illnesses. It's very impairing. People lose work, they lose their job. Their family life is disrupted or, or, or crashed because of depressive disorder. And it's one of the most important mental disorders of, of all the disorders. It's not as severe as some disorders, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, but it's more, much more common. So, the combination of being common and starting relatively early in life and impairment, and chronicity makes it, in some ways, the most important mental disorder. >> Many people with mental health problems, and depression, feel that, getting treatment for, for their mental health problems, means that they are weak. Or lazy. Or they have, given in, to the, to the disease. And, and as a result they do not seek treatment. So, stigma acts both as a barrier to receiving treatment. Or for people who are receiving treatment, for continuing receiving treatment. This barrier might also, be partly socially, determined in that, there is a negative perception about people with depression or people who are receiving mental health treatment in the community. There are, they, there might be stereotypes about people with mental illness that they are somehow not, dealing with their own problems independently. They're not strong enough to deal, deal with their problems. Maybe they are perceived as dangerous, and media may actually have contributed partly to, to this negative image of mental illness. And, part of, our work, as mental health providers, as policy makers, as advocates, is to fight this stigma. >> So, so we know that mental health is related to many really critical aspects, of health and development in lower and middle income countries and in the course, for instance, I speak about how maternal mental health impacts how children grow up. Their, their actual growth, their physical growth, but also, their psychological development. Children who've had mothers who are depressed are the higher risk of, not developing optimally. So that's critical. Mental health is also central to a lot of, physical health problems. What they call comerbility, that's a critical issue as well. For instance, patients with HIV who have metal health problems. Do not adhere to medications as well as people without mental health problems. So, mental health is really fundamental, I would say, to almost any aspect of, of, of development. >> I think, partly, this course helps people understand depression. As, a ,uh, mental health problem as a health problem and that goes, a long way in defusing the a stigma that many people might have about depression and mental health problems. It also talks about available services and the effectiveness of these services and a little bit about the requirements for quality care. This knowledge, I believe, helps people understand how depression can be treated really effectively. >> When we offered the course the first time, I was surprised by the discussion forums, by the activity on the discussion forumd, and the pleasant way, and the intelligent way, that people from different places, and different cultures were introducing themselves to one another, and discussing aspects of the course, in a positive way. It was inspiring, basically. >> What surprised people at the first time we offered the course, was, that there was so much interest. Which is great, and, one thing we noticed is, that there was a lot of interest from people who've had mental health problems. Thinking about mental health from a pubic health perspective doesn't offer immediate, tips or tricks for dealing with personal mental heath problems. But I think it's, it's great to have the involvement of, of people with actual experience. Live the experience of what we're teaching. >> The Department of Mental Health, the faculty, students, and fellows have produced a book, Public Mental Health. It's the first textbook in this area. And it covers the area. And it is now available in paperback from amazon.com, at a relatively inexpensive price, about $35. And it would be very helpful for students in the course. To, to have a book. And also it would expand their knowledge of public mental health beyond just depressive disorder. >> My hope for students taking the course, is that they get enthusiastic and unbiased. But I, I think they should be particularly enthusiastic about mental health in low and middle income countries. Or about thinking about depression from a Public Health perspective. So thinking about the importance of mental health, in international settings, and thinking about depression, not just from an individual point of view, but what we can do at a population level to, to improve mental health. >> My hope is that they understand that depression, first of all, is a common, disorder. It is a burden, it's a health burden, both financially, and also socially. And for the person who suffers from depression. In terms of the stress and disability it causes in their daily life. So that is one, aspect of the course. It helps to, familiarize the students with the burden of depression, it's manifestations. And, and, its impact, socially, and personally. The other is that they would know and learn about the available services, and, transient use of these services globally, and also learn about the barriers. And that may motivate them to become advocates, or to, to, help move the agenda of improving mental health care, where ever they are, by fighting the barriers, by, lobbying maybe, their legislatures, maybe by helping, the, many organizations in their, communities that are providing services, for people with, mental health problems and depression specifically. >> It would be great if students came to understand what I believe and that is that public health is the perfect blend of science and morality. And also appreciate its practicality and enjoy the fact that it is about people
