Mental health (cause area)

This entry discusses mental health as a cause area. For mental health within the effective altruism community, see effective altruism lifestyle or self-care and wellbeing in the effective altruism community.

Mental health problems are conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. It is unclear precisely what percent of the DALY burden worldwide they represent. While some research has indicated they make up about 7% of the worldwide DALY burden, other researchers have suggested that the 7% figure may underestimate the true burden of mental health in a variety of ways, and that the actual figure may be nearly double that (Vigo, Thornicroft & Atun 2016).that.^[1]

Mental health problems are typically neglected, particularly in the developing world, and there are very few charities working in the area. Giving What We Can conducted an evaluation of Basic Needs, a charity that implements community-based mental health projects, concluding that it was promising but not as cost-effective as GiveWell ’s recommended charities (Snowden & Sietzy 2016).charities.^[2]

Some people care about making everyone happier and more satisfied with their life, over and above treating medical disorders. A few members of the effective altruism community have argued that interventions aimed at increasing happiness may be more cost-effective than global poverty interventions (Plant 2016).interventions.^[3]

BibliographyRelated entries

Plant, Michael (2016) Is effective altruism overlooking human happinesspain and mental health? I argue it issuffering, Effective Altruism Forum, June 22.

Snowden, James & Konstantin Sietzy (2016)

1. Mental health^, Giving What We Can, February 8.

   Vigo, Daniel, Graham Thornicroft & Rifat Atun (2016) Estimating the true global burden of mental illness, The Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 3, pp. 171–178.

   Related entries

2. ^{^}

   Snowden, James & Konstantin Sietzy (2016) painMental health, Giving What We Can, February 8.

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   Plant, Michael (2016) Is effective altruism overlooking human happiness and sufferingmental health? I argue it is, Effective Altruism Forum, June 22.

This entry discusses mental health as a cause area. For mental health within the effective altruism community, see effective altruism lifestyle or self-care.

Mental health issues cause an enormous amount of suffering on a global scale, and could be just as promising a target for charitable intervention as many other EAeffective altruist cause areas.

This tag is mostly meant for discussion of mental health as a cause area. For discussion of mental health within the EA community, we suggest using tags like effective altruism lifestyle or self-care.

Mental health problems are conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. It’sIt is unclear precisely what percent of the DALY burden worldwide they represent. While some research has indicated they make up about 7% of the worldwide DALY burden, other researchers have suggested that the 7% figure may underestimate the true burden of mental health in a variety of ways, and that the trueactual figure may be nearly double that (Vigo, Thornicroft & Atun 2016).

Mental health problems are conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. It’s unclear precisely what percent of the DALY burden worldwide they represent. While some research has indicated they make up about 7% of the worldwide DALY burden, other researchers have suggested that the 7% figure may underestimate the true burden of mental health in a variety of ways, and that the true figure may be nearly double that (Vigo et al.(Vigo, Thornicroft & Atun 2016).

Mental health problems are conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. It’s unclear precisely what percent of the DALY burden worldwide they represent. While some reserachresearch has indicated they make up about 7% of the worldwide DALY burden, other researchers have suggested that the 7% figure may underestimate the true burden of mental health in a variety of ways, and that the true figure may be nearly double that.that (Vigo et al. 2016).

This tag is mostly meant for discussion of mental health as a cause area. For discussion of mental health within the EA community, we suggest using tags like EA Lifestyleeffective altruism lifestyle or Self-Careself-care.

Mental health problems are typically neglected, particularly in the developing world, and there are very few charities working in the area. Giving What We Can conducted an evaluation of Basic Needs, a charity that implements community-based mental health projects, concluding that it was promising but not as cost-effective as GiveWell’sGiveWell ’s recommended charities (Snowden & Sietzy 2016).

Further readingBibliography

Plant, Michael. 2016.Michael (2016) Is effective altruism overlooking human happiness and mental health? I argue it is.is, Effective Altruism Forum, June 22.

SnowdenSnowden, James & Sietzy. 2016.Konstantin Sietzy (2016) Mental health.health, Giving What We Can, February 8.

Vigo, Daniel, Graham Thornicroft & Atun. 2016.Rifat Atun (2016) Estimating the true global burden of mental illness.illness, The Lancet Psychiatry, VolumePsychiatry, vol. 3, Issue 2, 171 - pp. 171–178.

See also Pain and Suffering.

Related entries

pain and suffering