Institute for Global Mental Health
IGMH supports the global need for mental health services through research, training, and intervention.
Engaging Minds, Improving Lives Locally and Globally
Recent Activities
Global Mental Health Assessment Database Launched
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The Global Mental Health Assessment Database (GMhAD) is a new, open database that makes mental health assessment tools available to practitioners working with diverse populations in a wide range of locales. Practitioners and researchers are invited to share and search for assessment tools in the database. Up to now, there has been no central resource for adapted or validated mental health tools.
Tools in the database can be used to assess:
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mental disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, PTSD)
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locally recognized forms of distress (e.g. cultural concepts of distress, idioms of distress)
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"positive" or "negative" mental health outcomes (e.g. adaptations of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule or PANAS)
They are for use in low and/or middle income countries, the Global South, or among displaced populations (e.g., Cambodian refugees in the U.S.). Unlike Western psychiatric assessments that have simply been translated, the assessment tools in the database are culturally and linguistically appropriate for their intended setting(s). They may be developed, adapted, and/or validated for use among one or a number of subgroups within a population.
The database will not include tools that seek to assess mental health risk factors (e.g., shame and stigma).
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Accessing the Database
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Partners in creating and maintaining the database are the Society for Psychological Anthropology, the Society for Psychological Anthropology, the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry and the Foundation for Psychocultural Research.
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Inspire Dialogue 2018:
Difficult Conversations
The Inspire Dialogue Foundation, based in Cambridge, England, develops educational resources to promote human values and an ethic of human solidarity. Its open dialogue forums promote mutual understanding and action by bringing people together to explore common interests, including those who might not ordinarily meet. Inspire Dialogue 2018 explored the theme "Difficult Conversations," focusing on the genocide against the Tutsis that took place in Rwanda in 1994. A diverse group of leaders and professionals, including representatives of the Rwandan Tutsi and Hutu communities, gathered last September to explore what is required to diffuse polarization and conflict across the world.