A Network for Studying Psychological Resilience in Low and Middle-Income Countries (NESP)

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Vulnerability to or resilience to the commonest mental health disorders (depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol misuse) is related to the combination of genetic susceptibility, early life factors and an individual's current environment. Studies, over 95% of which have been confined to high income countries (HICs), have confirmed the importance of genes, development and adult environment. However, very little is known of these factors in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the burden of such common mental health disorders is even more substantial than in HICs.Here we propose a powerful network of global leaders to analyse the key factors in three contrasting LMIC settings in three regions of the world, Nepal, Malawi and Costa Rica. This will enable us systematically to determine the processes leading to vulnerability or resilience to common disorders of mental health and exploit this knowledge, enabled by globally-leading data sciences and within-country expertise, to develop specific approaches to reinforce resilience and support prevention, diagnosis and treatment.Our approach is highly multidisciplinary, combining genetic, clinical and social sciences expertise to provide a comprehensive view of an individual's genetics, development and environment. We will combine this expertise with world-leading informatics capacity to create a network for the study of psychological resilience across diverse environments and economies.