There are almost 300 different types of mental illnesses, according to the American Psychiatric Association which lists all of them in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For almost all, we do not know enough to either prevent or vanquish them.

These diverse disorders continue to afflict humankind and cause some of the most profound forms of human suffering, which has worsened in recent times with the worldwide mental and emotional fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, deadly military conflicts, mass displacement of populations and the cycles of heart-wrenching humanitarian crises.