[Discussion] SUICIDES AND CROSS CULTURAL ISSUES IN MENTAL HEALTH- CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVIT ATION FOR PARTICIPATION”

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

SUICIDES AND CROSS CULTURAL ISSUES IN MENTAL HEALTH- CALL FOR PAPERS AND 
INVITATION FOR PARTICIPATION”
Mental health constitutes one of the most urgent and chronic health 
issues, costing a heavy burden the world over. Mental disorders, 
depressions, phobias, schizophrenia are common in all cultural settings. 
This session aims to explore the differences in world experiences, 
expressions and treatments in mental illness. What can we say about the 
institutions of healing for the mentally ill? The history of attitudes 
towards the treatment of those designated as insane. Mental illness and 
social stigma. A century after Durkheim, what can we say about different 
forms of suicide and the cultural and psychological understandings of 
suicide? What explanations do we have for the rise in child and teenage 
suicide? Gender differences in suicide attempts and suicides. In what 
context should “terrorist” suicide attacks be analyzed? This session 
aims to arrive at a picture of world mental health, with a focus on the 
major controversies related to the treatment of the mentally ill, the 
human rights issues that emerge, and our understanding of suicides. 
Social consequences of the collapse of buildings and other man-made 
accidents will also be examined. Please find updated information as 
regards the meeting at the IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net.
The International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) welcomes 
applications from scholars, administrators, researchers, interested 
parties, international agencies, national and international research 
institutions and students for participation in the 2005 World Congress 
“HEALTH CHALLENGES OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM”. The 2005 World Congress 
aims to realize a universal platform for reflections and forward-looking 
discussions in all important areas that fall under the health social 
science agenda. The world congress will host workshop sessions under the 
following themes: Accidents and disabilities; Adolescent health; 
Bioethics; Bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; Child health, 
development and child rights; Health consequences of war; Communicating 
health knowledge and behavior; Controversies of diet and nutrition; 
Developing economies, migration and emerging health issues; Ecohealth: 
climate change, health consequences of environmental deterioration and 
environmental policies; Ethnobotany and healing; Giving birth: new 
meanings, new statistics; Health and disease in world myths, scripts and 
literature; Health clubs and the new aesthetics of health; Health 
equity; Health social science research methodology; Health sector reform 
and health insurance; Health, medicine and colonialism; Human rights, 
HIV/AIDS and the new epidemics; Infectious diseases; Issues in rural 
health and disease; Life styles; Living with pain; Local traditions of 
healing and shamans; New challenges: smoking, addictions and eating 
disorders; Politics of pharmacueticals; Redefining old age; Reproductive 
health; Social history of health and disease; Social science education 
for health sciences; Sociology of dental health; Suicides and cross 
cultural issues in mental health; The economics of well being; The 
future of hospitals and patient care; The psychology of violence; 
Violence as a public health issue; and Social aspects and prevention of 
world blindness. Please find updated information as regards the meeting 
at the IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net. We invite you to join this 
interdisciplinary gathering of the experiences and perspectives of 
social scientists and health specialists for a crucial assessment of the 
human condition at the onset of the new millennium.
Prof. Dr. Akile Gürsoy
IFSSH Secretary General
Head, Department of Anthropology
Yeditepe University
Congress Correspondence:
2005 IFSSH Congress Center
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Yeditepe University
Kay?s,dag(?,34755 Istanbul TÜRKI.YE
Tel: (+ 90) 216-578 07 27)
Fax: (+ 90) 216-578 08 99)
E-mail: ifssh.2005@yeditepe.edu.tr
ifssh@ifssh.net
http://www.ifssh.net