really great thread alex. thanks for this. i think its so important to put questions like this out there in the hopes more people read and then think than just those who respond!

i wish i had the time and energy and intelligence to devote to thinking these things through as you do. (im just that little bit more passionate about my actual job though!)

out of all you wrote there were several things that jumped out at me and made me go YES! this was only one of them:

"The professionals who are willing to state such things as 'one in four people are suffering from mental illness' and 'mental illness is high in immigrant populations' and such things as 'they often seek help from spiritual leaders instead of realising that their problem is medical and seeking professional psychological / psychiatric interventions'. They are also willing to lament the current situation in third world countries where many people who they regard to be suffering from mental illness have no access (or desire to access) pscyhiatric help. Even when those people are regarded as 'different' or 'positively revered' in their home town. The idea is that mental illness is far more prevalent than people have supposed and that it is a tragic state of play indeed that more people aren't asking for psychiatric / psychological help for their condition - and where those people are instead turning to spiritual leaders and / or their family for supports."

(just btw 'developing countries' is the politically correct term at the moment than 'third world countries' - though personally i have almost as many issues with the former term as the latter but anyways)

thanks for your thoughts. love reading your posts when i get the time! i think you have the potential to have a very big impact on the academic literature concerning mental health. keep at it!