Management of depression in people living with HIV/AIDS in Senegal: Acceptability, feasibility and benefits of group interpersonal therapy.

Depression is highly prevalent in people living with HIV (PLWH) and has negative consequences for daily life and care. We evaluated for the first time the acceptability, feasibility and benefits of group interpersonal therapy (IPT), combined with a task-shifting approach, to treat depression in PLWH in Senegal. PLWH with depression received group IPT following the World Health Organization protocol.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy's problem areas as an organizing framework to understand depression and sexual and reproductive health needs of Kenyan pregnant and parenting adolescents: a qualitative study.

Background: Peripartum adolescents experience significant interpersonal transitions in their lives. Depression and emotional distress are often exacerbated by adolescents' responses to these interpersonal changes. Improved understanding of pregnancy-related social changes and maladaptive responses to these shifts may inform novel approaches to addressing the mental health needs of adolescents during the perinatal period.

Offspring of Depressed Parents: 30 Years Later.

Objective: While the increased risk of psychopathology in the biological offspring of depressed parents has been widely replicated, the long-term outcome through their full age of risk is less known. The authors present a 30-year follow-up of biological offspring (mean age=47 years) of depressed (high-risk) and nondepressed (low-risk) parents.

Method: One hundred forty-seven offspring of moderately to severely depressed or nondepressed parents selected from the same community were followed for up to 30 years.

The Healthy Activity Program lay counsellor delivered treatment for severe depression in India: systematic development and randomised evaluation.

Background: Reducing the global treatment gap for mental disorders requires treatments that are economical, effective and culturally appropriate.

Aims: To describe a systematic approach to the development of a brief psychological treatment for patients with severe depression delivered by lay counsellors in primary healthcare.

Method: The treatment was developed in three stages using a variety of methods: (a) identifying potential strategies; (b) developing a theoretical framework; and (c) evaluating the acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of the psychological treatment.

Using consumer perspectives to inform the cultural adaptation of psychological treatments for depression: a mixed methods study from South Asia.

Background: Integrating consumer perspectives in developing and adapting psychological treatments (PTs) can enhance their acceptability in diverse cultural contexts.

Objective: To describe the explanatory models (EMs) of depression in South Asia with the goal of informing the content of culturally appropriate PTs for this region.

Methods: Two methods were used: a systematic review of published literature on the EMs of depression in South Asia; and in-depth interviews with persons with depression and family caregivers in two sites in India.

Interpersonal Counseling (IPC) for Depression in Primary Care.

Interpersonal Counseling (IPC) comes directly from interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), an evidenced-based psychotherapy developed by Klerman and Weissman. It [IPC?] is a briefer, more structured version for use primarily in non-mental health settings, such as primary care clinics when treating patients with symptoms of depression. National health-care reform, which will bring previously uninsured persons into care and provide mechanisms to support mental health training of primary care providers, will increase interest in briefer psychotherapy.

Measuring depression and anxiety in sub-saharan Africa.

Background: Despite being one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, fewer than 10% of depressed individuals in low-resource settings have access to treatment. Mounting evidence suggests that nonspecialist workers are capable of providing counseling and case management at the community level. They often use brief psychiatric screening instruments as clinical tools to identify cases and monitor symptoms over time.

Lay health worker led intervention for depressive and anxiety disorders in India: impact on clinical and disability outcomes over 12 months.

Background: Depressive and anxiety disorders (common mental disorders) are the most common psychiatric condition encountered in primary healthcare.

Aims: To test the effectiveness of an intervention led by lay health counsellors in primary care settings (the MANAS intervention) to improve the outcomes of people with common mental disorders.

Method: Twenty-four primary care facilities (12 public, 12 private) in Goa (India) were randomised to provide either collaborative stepped care or enhanced usual care to adults who screened positive for common mental disorders.

Building capacity in mental health interventions in low resource countries: an apprenticeship model for training local providers.

Background: Recent global mental health research suggests that mental health interventions can be adapted for use across cultures and in low resource environments. As evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of certain specific interventions begins to accumulate, guidelines are needed for how to train, supervise, and ideally sustain mental health treatment delivery by local providers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). MODEL AND CASE PRESENTATIONS: This paper presents an apprenticeship model for lay counselor training and supervision in mental health treatments in LMIC, developed and used by the authors in a range of mental health intervention studies conducted over the last decade in various low-resource settings.

Children of low-income depressed mothers: psychiatric disorders and social adjustment.

Background: Although several studies have documented a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children of depressed than nondepressed parents, previous research was conducted in predominantly White, middle, or upper-middle class populations. Only limited information is available on psychiatric disorders and psychosocial functioning in children of low-income depressed mothers.

Methods: We report the findings in children of mothers with and without a lifetime history of major depressive disorder, who were recruited from a large urban primary-care practice.

Integrating evidence-based treatments for common mental disorders in routine primary care: feasibility and acceptability of the MANAS intervention in Goa, India.

Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, pose a major public health burden in developing countries. Although these disorders are thought to be best managed in primary care settings, there is a dearth of evidence about how this can be achieved in low resource settings. The MANAS project is an attempt to integrate an evidence based package of treatments into routine public and private primary care settings in Goa, India.

Recall of childhood psychopathology more than 10 years later.

Objective: This study investigated recall in a sample of depressed, anxious, and normal children followed up as adults. Strengths of this study were that the length of the retest interval was substantial, follow-up information was collected by blind interviewers, and childhood diagnoses were clearly documented.

Method: The sample consisted of 144 subjects with a childhood diagnosis of depression, 48 with a childhood diagnosis of anxiety, and 128 normal controls.