Keynote 12 - Advancing Global Mental Health for All

Most people in the world with a mental disorder do not receive treatment. Although this occurs frequently in high-income countries, it is even more prevalent in the Global South. This is attributable to a lack of mental health resources in many disadvantaged settings. This has led to the emergency of task-shifting approaches in which trained lay providers deliver evidence-based interventions based on cognitive behavioral principles. This review will outline recent trends implemented to fill the global treatment gap by using primarily transdiagnostic approaches. A series of interventions have been developed and evaluated by the World Health Organization for both adults and adolescents. The review will also outline how this field has developed from efficacy trials to implementation in real-world settings. Despite the gains made in global mental health in the past decade, there are also significant challenges. This review will highlight key limitations of current interventions, including a paucity of knowledge of the change mechanisms underpinning the programs, limitations in research designs, lack of cost-effectiveness evidence, and the issue of addressing the many people with persistent and complex disorders resulting from humanitarian crises, war, and persecution. The effort to advance global mental health research and also implement its findings will also be discussed in the context of shifts in geopolitical support for such programs, and the challenge for mental health researchers and policy makers to function in changing political climates.