Changing Trends in Mental Health Care and Research in Ghana

Book excerpt: This Reader is about the changing trends in mental health care and research in Ghana. The book includes a brief history of Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ghana Medical School and Mental Health Care in Ghana through the eyes of professionals who have lived this history. There is also a revised situation analysis of mental health services and legislation from 2005. These are followed by three main sections on Conceptualization of Mental Illness (depression, religion and illness, autism, substance use disorders and schizophrenia), Mental Health Practice in a teaching hospital setting (referrals to Korle-Bu, how psychiatric illnesses manifest, how people's lives are affected and what skill sets and resources are available for dealing with them) and finally the Department's focus on research includes the Mental Health Information System, Sickle Cell Disease, Medical Ethics, and Liaison Psychiatry. In the concluding paragraph, read about the way forward in mental health care and research.