Seeing the Unseen: Caring for the World

A new book highlights global disparities in mental health care through the struggles of two fictional characters trying to access treatment in the “developing” world.

In May of 2001, I attended Dr. Craig Katz’s Grand Rounds presentation at Mount Sinai, discussing disaster psychiatry work during an earthquake in El Salvador. Straightaway, I volunteered with the organization he had co-founded in 1998, Disaster Psychiatry Outreach (DPO). The rest is history, and I’ve worked in the field since then. DPO became part of a larger organization and continues as the Crisis Emotional Care Team at Vibrant Emotional Health (Vibrant runs the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline as its largest program).

In the course of disaster response work, Dr. Katz was inspired to become a global psychiatry leader, addressing problems before they become disasters and building baseline community capacity in regions where resources are lowest, and needs greatest. In addition to his considerable academic and clinical accomplishments, Dr. Katz has shared his experiences in a just-published memoir, detailing his work of over 25 years through the eyes of fictionalized characters, Sam and Berko. His distilled and masterfully written volume chronicles the experiences of our…