GloCal alumnus Archana Siddaiah, MD, made great use of her recent maternity leave to write a book on mental health in Kannada, the official language of the Indian state of Karnataka where she works. The book, entitled “Not All Wounds are Visible: Notes on Adolescent Mental Health” is a pragmatic guide that aims to empower adolescents to better understand their own issues and respond appropriately, especially in places where specialist psychiatric care is not available. Diverse mental health challenges that adolescents face are described in the book, as well as myths and misconceptions associated with each, and coping strategies. Illustrations, lay language, case studies, and quizzes are utilized to make the information easily understandable.

In addition to being a fantastic guide for adolescents themselves, the book is also good resource material for parents, teachers, community health workers and social workers. The hope is that this book will improve mental health literacy and reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues among adolescents in this population. There are also plans to translate the book into English so that it can be shared with other Indian states.

Dr. Siddaiah was a GloCal Health Fellow in the 2018-2019 cohort. Her fellowship research on training health workers to provide primary mental healthcare to adolescents in rural South India received support from the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as the Fogarty International Center and UCGHI. Dr. Siddaiah is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health at St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore.