Mental Health Awareness Week ? 11th to 17th May 2015 ? Overcoming Stigma

Abstract

Mental health awareness week is going to be observed this year from 11th to 17th May. Stigma about Psychiatry is a global issue running from the very beginning of every civilization since today. As being a psychiatrist in a developing country, I am fighting against stigma by not only treating the patients suffering from schizophrenia but also educating parents of adolescent school going children in Bangladesh. I was inspired by the work of my Japanese colleague Hatsumi Yoshii, who has been developing an effective educational program since 2011 to improve knowledge of schizophrenia in parents of junior and senior high school students in Japan