The cultural politics of mental illness: toward a rights-based approach to global mental health
Abstract
The movement for global mental health (MGMH) has raised awareness about the paucity of mental health services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In response, policies and programs have been developed by the World Health Organization and by the Lancet Commission on global mental health, among other organizations. These policy initiatives and programs, while recognizing the importance of being responsive to local needs and culture, are based on Western biomedical conceptualizations of emotional distress. In the paper, we discuss how a rights-based approach can promote the voice and participation of people with lived experience into the MGMH. We argue that a human rights framework can be enhanced by incorporating the conceptual approaches of critical inquiry and community mental health. We also discuss how rights-based approaches and service-user activism can productively reconfigure Western psychiatric conceptualizations of distress and provide both a moral and empirical justification for a paradigm shift within the MGMH.
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It has been the focus of recent calls for a paradigm change in the field of global mental health, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has been the focus of recent calls for a paradigm change in the field of global mental health (106–108), particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (109).”
From Recovery from Severe Mental Health Problems: A Systematic Review of Service User and Informal Caregiver Perspectives (2021) · cites this paper as [107]
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- Authors
- Cosgrove, L., Morrill, Z., Karter, J. M., Valdes, E., & Cheng, C.-P.
- Affiliations
- University of Massachusetts Boston (US)
- Massey University (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Cosgrove, Lisa
- Venue
- Community Mental Health Journal
- Published
- 2020-10-16
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-9
- ISSN
- 0010-3853 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2789
- OpenAlex
- W3093397645
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Community Mental Health Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mental Health and Patient Involvement
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, Medicine and Society
- Keywords
- global mental health, rights-based approach, human rights, mental illness, cultural politics, lived experience, service user involvement, critical inquiry, community mental health, mental health policy, low- and middle-income countries, paradigm shift
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Mental Health, Mental Health Services, Politics, Global Health
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