Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28482687›Full record

SynthesisAnnual review of clinical psychology2017

Psychological Treatments for the World: Lessons from Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Daisy R Singla, Brandon A Kohrt, Laura K Murray, Arpita Anand, Bruce F Chorpita, Vikram Patel

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Annual review of clinical psychology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 418 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
418citing papers in PubMed, 13 pooled it
67.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

418 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 868 citations in OpenAlex.

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  5. Codesign of Mental Health Interventions With Young People From Racially Minoritised Populations: A Systematic Review of Methods and Outcomes.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025
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358 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.

Daisy R SinglaSinai Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5.
Brandon A KohrtDuke Global Health Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710; email: brandon.kohrt@duke.edu.
Laura K MurrayDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205; email: lmurra15@jhu.edu.
Arpita AnandSangath, Goa, India 403501; email: anand.arpita@gmail.com.
Bruce F ChorpitaDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095; email: chorpita@ucla.edu.
Vikram PatelSangath, Goa, India 403501; email: anand.arpita@gmail.com.
Duke University · USHarvard University · USJohns Hopkins University · USSangath · INSinai Health System · CAUniversity of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

South Asian Hub for Advocacy, Research & Education on Mental Health (SHARE)U19MH095687 · NIMH · LONDON SCH/HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE · PI PATEL, VIKRAM H, RAHMAN, ATIF · 2011 to 2015
$2.9M
Reducing Barriers to Mental Health Task SharingK01MH104310 · NIMH · GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI KOHRT, BRANDON ALAN · 2014 to 2018
$908k
NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH104310NIMH NIH HHS U19 MH095687Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 106919/Z/15
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Common mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress, are leading causes of disability worldwide. Treatment for these disorders is limited in low- and middle-income countries. This systematic review synthesizes the implementation processes and examines the effectiveness of psychological treatments for common mental disorders in adults delivered by nonspecialist providers in low- and middle-income countries. In total, 27 trials met the eligibility criteria; most treatments targeted depression or posttraumatic stress. Treatments were commonly delivered by community health workers or peers in primary care or community settings; they usually were delivered with fewer than 10 sessions over 2-3 months in an individual, face-to-face format. Treatments included common elements, such as nonspecific engagement and specific domains of behavioral, interpersonal, emotional, and cognitive elements. The pooled effect size was 0.49 (95% confidence interval = 0.36-0.62), favoring intervention conditions. Our review demonstrates that psychological treatments-comprising a parsimonious set of common elements and delivered by a low-cost, widely available human resource-have moderate to strong effects in reducing the burden of common mental disorders.

Indexed as

Developing CountriesGlobal HealthHumansMental DisordersMental HealthPsychotherapycommon elementsglobal mental healthimplementation processeslow- and middle-income countriesmeta-analysispsychological treatmentssystematic review

Identifiers

PMID28482687
PMCPMC5506549
OpenAlexW2404531844

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.