With rising mental health problems but a shortage of services , group therapy is offering new hope
Author : Kaaren Mathias , Senior Lecturer in public health , University of Canterbury
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Group interventions might typically mean weekly or monthly meetings with a regular group experiencing mental distress .
The needs of people with mental health problems are increasing globally , especially following the turbulence of COVID .
Even before the pandemic , it was clear that despite more resources for mental health services in New Zealand and Australia , the prevalence of mental health problems was on the rise .
Mental health care in the current format is not meeting the needs of people living in the community , and there ’ s an ongoing shortage of mental health providers and relevant therapies .
In an unequal world , the rising burden of mental illness is often made worse by lack of access to quality evidence-based care . We need a new approach and it should focus on communities , scalability and equity .
In our recently published scoping review , we examine how group-based therapies could improve mental health outcomes .
Social factors are important Many think of mental health care as involving a visit to a GP , psychologist or psychiatrist , a prescription for
medicines and perhaps individual “ talk therapy ”.
But we wanted to examine the value of “ psychosocial ” care – a broader approach that meets individual needs but also considers social factors such as housing , income or relationships .
Our review aimed to understand the value of group-based interventions , recognising the importance of social networks and relationships for recovery across all communities .
Group interventions might typically mean weekly or monthly meetings with a regular group experiencing mental distress . These would be facilitated by peers or community members who have been through similar difficulties .
Our study focuses on communities with fewer resources in South Asia , including Nepal , India and Bangladesh . It takes a regional approach because we know context matters in mental health , and one size doesn ’ t fit all .
We considered group interventions that shared a cultural context to see if they better engaged people on a local level . As such , our findings are also relevant for addressing the mental health care gap
58 ISSUE 6 | 2023 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com