Category: Global Mental Health
Pankhuri Aggarwal, M.A.
Graduate student
Miami University
Cincinnati, Ohio
Vaishali Raval, Ph.D.
Professor
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
Tracy Witte, Ph.D.
Auburn University
Auburn University, Alabama
Pankhuri Aggarwal, M.A.
Graduate student
Miami University
Cincinnati, Ohio
Vaishali Raval, Ph.D.
Professor
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
April Smith, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
Although mental health concerns are experienced globally, the burden caused by them is highest in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) (WHO, 2018). For example, unipolar depression accounts for 65.5 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide. Of these, 55.5 million DALYs are in LMICs (Collins et al., 2011). This uneven burden of mental illness is also evident in suicide-related deaths. Of the over 800,000 global deaths by suicide, 75% occur in LMICs (WHO, 2012). Additionally, there exists a wide gap between mental health needs and available resources in LMICs (Otte et al., 2016). Despite economic and technological advancements, a majority of the individuals in LMICs continue to face barriers in receiving appropriate and timely interventions (Cuijpers et al., 2018). However, a substantial body of research focusing on the etiology and treatment approaches for depression and suicide continues to be conducted in High-Income Countries (HICs). This is problematic as people in HICs live in very different social, political, and economic conditions. Thus, mental health research conducted in HICs is not directly applicable in LMICs, particularly in resource-limited settings.
As the second-most populous country in the world, India serves as an important LMIC context to examine mental health concerns and the relevance of treatment approaches. Specifically, India is home to one of the largest groups of individuals with depression (India Today Web Desk, 2018), and 170,000 lives are lost each year to suicide (Patel, 2012). Given the strong association between depression and suicide, it is not surprising that close to 38% of the deaths by suicide are among Indians under the age of 30 (Aggarwal, 2015). The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these conditions (Grover et al., 2020), making it imperative to develop and implement innovative, context-driven interventions.
This symposium brings together research focusing on factors contributing to depression and suicide in different communities in India and examines the feasibility of different treatment and prevention strategies. Presentation 1 assesses the concurrent and longitudinal links between quality of interpersonal relations and depressive symptoms among young adults across major urban cities of India with implications for informing treatment approaches. Presentation 2 explores stakeholder perceptions of precipitating factors of suicide, and viewpoints on contextually-grounded innovative prevention approaches in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Presentation 3 assesses the utility and feasibility of a mindfulness-informed intervention to reduce interoceptive dysfunction and suicidal ideation among college students in South India, demonstrating the potential utility of brief web-based interventions. Overall, these studies highlight the importance of culturally-informed and contextually grounded approaches to treatment and prevention in clinical practice.
Presenter: Pankhuri Aggarwal, M.A. – Miami University
Co-author: Vaishali V. Raval, Ph.D. – Miami University
Presenter: Vaishali V. Raval, Ph.D. – Miami University
Co-author: Vaishali V. Raval, Ph.D. – Miami University
Co-author: Bency Joy, PhD – Andaman Nicobar High schools
Co-author: Baiju Gopal, PhD – Christ University
Co-author: Christopher Sutter, PhD – Miami University
Co-author: Nikhil Singh, PhD – Miami University
Co-author: Cameron Hay, PhD – Miami University
Presenter: April Smith, Ph.D. – Auburn University
Co-author: Shruti S. S. Kinkel-Ram, M.A. – Miami University
Co-author: William Grunwald, PhD – Auburn University
Co-author: Tony Sam George, Ph.D. – Christ University
Co-author: Vaishali V. Raval, Ph.D. – Miami University