Mental health issues in the developing world.

My major area of interest is designing and evaluating methods for assessing mental health and mental illness in non-Western cultures with the intention for using these assessments to investigate effectiveness of innovative prevention and intervention strategies. Current work includes working with an international NGO to evaluate programs for children in crisis, evaluating mental health interventions for populations affected by torture and trauma, and an assessment of perinatal depression among HIV-infected women in Brazil.

Developing countries;

Mental Health

2004 Paul V. Lemkau Award for excellence in doctoral research in the Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

2000-2004 Psychiatric Epidemiology Pre-doctoral NRSA Fellowship, National Institute of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (PI: Dr. William Eaton)

2000 National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) Director’s Award for group excellence in customer service for technical assistance to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services following Hurricane Floyd.

2000 National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) Director’s Award for superior mission response in providing rapid assessment of critical health needs following disasters.

1993 Karpf Peace Prize for study in conflict resolution, Brandeis University

1992 Hyman Rosen Memorial Prize for Undergraduate Excellence and Community Involvement, Brandeis University

Burkle F, Bass J, Bolton P (2008) Becoming Responsible in a 'Socially Seismic' Environment: Mental Health as a Marker of Community Recovery. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2(2): 73-75.

Bass J, Bolton P, Murray L (2007) Invited Comment: Do not forget culture when studying mental health. The Lancet. 370: 918-919.

Bolton P, Bass J, Betancourt T, Speelman L, Onyango G, Clougherty K, Neugebauer R, Murray L, Verdeli H. (2007) Interventions for depression symptoms among adolescent survivors of war and displacement in Northern Uganda: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 298(5): 519-527.

Bolton P, Bass J, Murray K, Lee K, Weiss W, McDonnell SM. (2007) Expanding the scope of humanitarian program evaluation. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 22(5): 390-395.

Bass J, Neugebauer R, Clougherty KF, Verdeli H, Wickramaratne P, Ndogoni L, Speelman L, Weissman M, Bolton P. (2006) Group interpersonal psychotherapy for depression in rural Uganda: 6-month follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry. 288: 567-573.

Bass JK, Lambert SF. (2004) Urban adolescents’ perceptions of their neighborhoods: an examination of spatial dependence. Journal of Community Psychology. 32(3): 277-293.

Bolton P, Bass J, Neugebauer R, Clougherty KF, Verdeli H, Wickramaratne P, Ndogoni L, Speelman L, Weissman M. (2003) A clinical trial of group interpersonal psychotherapy for depression in rural Uganda. JAMA. 289(23): 3117-3124.

Verdeli H, Clougherty K, Bolton P, Speelman L, Ndogoni L, Bass J, Neugebauer R, Weissman M. (2003). Adapting group interpersonal psychotherapy for a developing country: experience in rural Uganda. World Psychiatry. 2(2):114-120.

Chapters:

Burkle F, Chatterjee P, Bass J, Bolton P (2007). Mental Health in Emergencies. In the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) Public Health Guide for Emergencies, 2nd Edition.

Bass J, Person C, Azur M (2005). Mental health effects of disasters. In Everly GS Jr, Parker CL, editors. Mental health aspects of disaster: Public health preparedness and response. Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness.