Photo by David Horton
      Photograph by David Horton: From Souls Want to Fly

Six SDN Exhibits Explore Mental Illness Across the World   
This is not the first time SDN has explored mental illness. In 2012, SDN presented an exhibition in Milan, Italy at the Italian Psychiatry Association on mental illness and mental health. It is a recurrent theme on SDN because it is a recurrent and chronic problem throughout human history. Even the wealthiest of nations do not have solutions despite success in so many other medical areas. In the first exhibit below, David Horton presents how architecture and mental illness are intertwined at the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center in Boston. Indonesia is not a poor nation but, as shown here in two exhibits, its solution is often to put the mentally ill in chains. Sarah Bones presents an important exhibit about how homelessness and mental illness are inseparable, and the courageous work being done by one Philadelphia NGO to help. The final two exhibits explore the lack of mental health treatment in Pakistan and a facility in Israel that provides care for victims of the Holocaust who have suffered from mental illness throughout their lives as a result of the unspeakable traumas experienced as children.
 
Zeke fall 2015

Focus on Mental Illness

David Horton
by David Horton/ United States

In 1962, acclaimed architect Paul Rudolph began design work on the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center, one of two buildings that comprise the Government Service Center in Boston. Construction ceased in 1971. The building remains unfinished. Rudolph believed that "[a]rchitecture is used ...

Diego Ibarra S_nchez
by Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ Pakistan

Abandoned, chained, forgotten... Mental patients in Pakistan face the lack of resources to take care of them. Ignorance and stigma cause prejudice against mental disorders. Mental health facilities available for their care are very sparse. In the past, the government of Pakistan has attempted to make progress ...

Sarah Bones
by Sarah Bones/ United States

Pathways To Housing PA believes that housing is a basic human right. They work with people who are chronically homeless and suffer with a serious and persistent mental illness. These are people that have been on the streets for 5, 10, 15, and sometimes even 20 years. ..

Gili Yaari
by Gili Yaari/ Israel

Shaar Menashe Mental Health Center for Holocaust survivors in Pardes Hanna, Israel, is a home for about 70 Holocaust survivors. Most of them, who were children during the Holocaust, lost many or all of their family members. Along the years, they emigrated to Israel and tried to integrate into the Israel...

Ingetje Tadros
by Ingetje Tadros/ Indonesia

The focus of the project 'Caged Humans in Bali' will be to raise awareness of the issue of 'Pasung. Pasung is the physical restraint by way of chains, ropes and cages of the mentally ill in Indonesia under the care of their families as there is a lack of Governmental support...

Christian Werner
Pasung: Punished by the Gods>>
by Christian Werner/ Bali

Bali is a tropical vacation paradise, but there is a dark side just a few tourists get to see. People with mental illness are chained by their family members, they are often tied up or locked up in shocking living conditions. Around 20 million people in Indonesia have a mental illness. Only a few get help...


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Kristen Bernard
Lori Grinker
Steve Horn
Ed Kashi
Reza
Jeffrey D. Smith
Stephen Walker
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Jamie Wellford

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Founder & Director

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Communications Director

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Special Issue Editor 

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About Social Documentary Network

Social Documentary Network is a community for photographers, NGOs, journalists, editors, and students to create and explore visual stories on global themes. Since 2008, exhibits on SDN have explored topics as diverse as oil workers in the Niger River Delta, male sex workers in India, Central American immigrant women during their journey north, and Iraqi and Afghan refugees in Greece.Click here to view all of the exhibits. 

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