Dr. Richard Appiah, CAS Postdoctoral Fellow, Publishes paper on mental health in sub-Saharan Africa

January 11, 2022

Richard Appiah Photo

Dr. Richard Appiah is currently a CAS Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Occupational Therapy and the Department of Psychology at the College of Health Sciences at the University of Ghana. His paper, titled "A look back, a path forward: Revisiting the mental health and well-being research and practice models and priorities in sub-Saharan Africa," was accepted into publication on January 11, 2022, in New Ideas in Psychology available here.

Drawing on a consilience of evidence from the Ghana and sub-Saharan African literature, the paper discusses the limitations (and challenges) with relying exclusively on the bipolar and biomedical models as frameworks for mental health research and practice in the current paradigm. The paper argues for the adoption of more global and empirically-tested frameworks and population-based approaches to complement clinical approaches to reduce the population burden of mental health problems.

Read more about the CAS Postdoctoral Fellowship here.