Mental disorders are among the most prevalent, chronic, and disabling health conditions. Although these disorders clearly have biological correlates, they are also substantially influenced by modifiable social, economic, and environmental conditions that affect not only individuals, but whole communities, neighborhoods, and populations. With psychiatric and psychological perspectives mostly dominating mental health research and policy in late 20th and early 21st century, these root socioeconomic determinants of mental health have largely been obscured. Childhood adversity is one such critical social driver of mental illness associated with a wide range of psychopathology. 90% of the world’s youth resides in low- and middle- income countries with many children and adolescents living with multiple, ongoing adversities and up to half of them experiencing violence in one form or another. With most mental health problems emerging in first decades of life and the strong association between early life adversity and mental health, it is therefore not surprising that 1 in 7 adolescents experiences a mental disorder, globally.
One billion children, globally, experience violence in one form or another. With the increasing push for universal mental health, this should be considered a key determinant in our global mental health efforts because findings from the past twenty years of developmental studies have provided irrefutable evidence that childhood trauma is the most significant preventable risk factor for mental disorders. Based on such findings, the inclusion of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.2 has been a significant milestone. However, with 90% of the trauma research conducted in high-income countries, there is considerable lack of evidence and data to better understand the attitudes and perceived norms regarding developmental trauma as well as the barriers and opportunities for preventive strategies in LMICs.
For instance, while mental health is often neglected in low-resource settings, Governments often make large investments in higher education, understanding that tertiary education is a key requirement for modernization, development, and social justice. However, common mental disorders, due to adversity, are important predictors of tertiary education failure as students with CMDs are twice as likely to drop out without obtaining a degree and thus reducing the return on this investment.
Our goal is to inform the global mental health efforts in promoting child and adolescent mental health by highlighting the critical importance of social determinants of mental health and their sequelae in LMICs.
We welcome original studies and reviews addressing the following topics.
• Current state of evidence for prioritizing child and adolescent mental health in LMICs
• Gaps in existing knowledge base
• Barriers to programmatic research on childhood adversity in LMICs
• Single vs. multilevel interventions targeting modifiable family or community-based factors
• Local and global challenges for the implementation of child abuse prevention programs in LMICs
• Sociocultural considerations in intervention and policy design
• Effective trauma-informed public mental health models
• Effectiveness and sustainability of transported interventions vs. locally developed interventions.
• Working interventions that were taken up by decision-makers
Mental disorders are among the most prevalent, chronic, and disabling health conditions. Although these disorders clearly have biological correlates, they are also substantially influenced by modifiable social, economic, and environmental conditions that affect not only individuals, but whole communities, neighborhoods, and populations. With psychiatric and psychological perspectives mostly dominating mental health research and policy in late 20th and early 21st century, these root socioeconomic determinants of mental health have largely been obscured. Childhood adversity is one such critical social driver of mental illness associated with a wide range of psychopathology. 90% of the world’s youth resides in low- and middle- income countries with many children and adolescents living with multiple, ongoing adversities and up to half of them experiencing violence in one form or another. With most mental health problems emerging in first decades of life and the strong association between early life adversity and mental health, it is therefore not surprising that 1 in 7 adolescents experiences a mental disorder, globally.
One billion children, globally, experience violence in one form or another. With the increasing push for universal mental health, this should be considered a key determinant in our global mental health efforts because findings from the past twenty years of developmental studies have provided irrefutable evidence that childhood trauma is the most significant preventable risk factor for mental disorders. Based on such findings, the inclusion of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.2 has been a significant milestone. However, with 90% of the trauma research conducted in high-income countries, there is considerable lack of evidence and data to better understand the attitudes and perceived norms regarding developmental trauma as well as the barriers and opportunities for preventive strategies in LMICs.
For instance, while mental health is often neglected in low-resource settings, Governments often make large investments in higher education, understanding that tertiary education is a key requirement for modernization, development, and social justice. However, common mental disorders, due to adversity, are important predictors of tertiary education failure as students with CMDs are twice as likely to drop out without obtaining a degree and thus reducing the return on this investment.
Our goal is to inform the global mental health efforts in promoting child and adolescent mental health by highlighting the critical importance of social determinants of mental health and their sequelae in LMICs.
We welcome original studies and reviews addressing the following topics.
• Current state of evidence for prioritizing child and adolescent mental health in LMICs
• Gaps in existing knowledge base
• Barriers to programmatic research on childhood adversity in LMICs
• Single vs. multilevel interventions targeting modifiable family or community-based factors
• Local and global challenges for the implementation of child abuse prevention programs in LMICs
• Sociocultural considerations in intervention and policy design
• Effective trauma-informed public mental health models
• Effectiveness and sustainability of transported interventions vs. locally developed interventions.
• Working interventions that were taken up by decision-makers
