Dr. Mary Seeman Lecture: Adaptation and export of Western-based psychotherapies

Presenter: Dr. Dawit Wondimagegn Gebreamlak. Moderated by Dr. Raj Rasasingham, MD, FRCPC, Director of Continuing Professional and Practice Development. Hosted by the University of Toronto.

Dr. Dawit Wondimagegn Gebreamlak is the former Chief Executive Director of the College of Health Sciences (CHS), Vice President of Addis Ababa University (AAU), Chair of AAU’s, Department of Psychiatry and Director of Graduate Programs for AAU, CHS in Ethiopia. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at AAU, a Consultant Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Co-chair and Director, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration-TAAAC and the National Lead, African Health Observatory Platform - Ethiopia National Centre.

He has published in the areas of global mental health, family medicine, medical ethics, psychotherapy knowledge translation, and post-partum depression. He was a primary investigator of two Grand Challenges Canada funded projects – The Biaber Project, to scale up screening and mental health care in Ethiopian primary care settings; and to engage with Ethiopian traditional healers, using a collaborative care model to increase the identification and treatment of psychiatric disorders. He has culturally adapted IPT for Ethiopia (IPT-E) and led IPT workshops for psychiatry residents at AAU and University of Toronto. The Bia Project enabled the training of more than 500 Ethiopian primary care nurses in IPT-E.

Learning Objectives:
- To be familiar with the relevant history of psychotherapy in Africa and its current status.
- To understand why importing western modalities of psychotherapy so often fail to become mainstream treatments.
- To appreciate the widespread reliance on local, culturally relevant theories and treatments for mental health conditions.
- To consider what lessons can be shared regarding appropriate and effective psychotherapy.