Mental Illness: International Perspectives

This course will examine issues surrounding mental illness through a cross-cultural lens. The first half of the course will explore how globalization has impacted societal norms, vulnerabilities, idioms of distress, and treatments. The second half of the course will focus on systemic issues facing US mental health care such as stigma, disproportionate access to care, jails and mental illness, confessions, the insanity defense, and current debates within mental health advocacy space. By the end of the course the students present on how societal attitudes towards mental illness impact not only the community response, but also the idioms of distress themselves. Students should be able to synthesize new information about mental health policies and predict their potential impacts on various populations.