A Momentary Flow

Somatosphere has a fantastic account of the debates rocking the world of global mental health – the still nascent field that aims to make mental health a world priority. The idea itself is sound in the general sense, but there is still a lot of argument about what it means to promote mental health and much discussion about whether ‘global mental health’ is just a means of exporting Western ideas and diagnoses in a sort of 21st century globalisation of the mind. I am always a little struck by the fact that the ‘global mental health’ movement seems mainly to focus on Asia and Africa. For example, the lack of participation of Latin American mental health professionals and advocates is striking in both the headline-making publications and the key conferences. This is a pity as Latin America has developed a unique perspective on mental health that, by reading the debates covered by Somatosphere, would be very relevant. If you want to get your head into the space of this particular Latin American approach, have a think about this analogy. How would you react if instead of supporting the American civil rights movement in the 1960s, you were told the major problem was that people were being affected by a mental illness called ‘post-discrimination stress disorder’?