Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Interrogating the Rights Discourse and Knowledge-Making Regimes of the “Movement for Global Mental Health”

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Psychiatry Interrogated

  • 802 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter is written in the context of the “scaling up” of the movement for global mental health. Looking at a program that began benignly, the authors trace its gradual deterioration, particularly focusing in on what happens when a conflation occurs between people’s rights being honored and their receiving of “psychiatric treatment.” This timely critique points in the direction of alternatives to the increasingly objectified and globalized notions of “the right to mental health,” arguing for a return to the more open processes with which this movement began.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 3rd edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreasen, N. C. (1984). The broken brain: The biological revolution in psychiatry. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Angell, M. (2005). The truth about the drug companies: How they deceive us and what to do about it. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belkin, G. S., Unützer, J., Kessler, R. C., Verdeli, H., Raviola, G. J., Sachs, K., et al. (2011). Scaling up for the “bottom billion”: “5 x 5” implementation of community mental health care in low-income regions. Psychiatric Services, 62, 1494–1502. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.000012011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burstow, B., LeFrançois, B. A., & Diamond, S. (Eds.) (2014). Psychiatry disrupted: Theorizing resistance and crafting the (r)evolution. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chisholm, D., Saxena, S., and van Ommeren, M. (2006). Dollars, DALYs and decisions: Economic aspects of the mental health system. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/dollars_dalys_and_decisions.pdf

  • Chisholm, D., Flisher, A. J., Lund, C., Patel, V., Saxena, S., Thornicroft, G., et al. (2007). Scale up services for mental disorders: A call for action. The Lancet, 370, 1241–1252. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61242-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, J. P., & Kubisch, A. C. (1998). Applying a theory of change approach to the evaluation of comprehensive community initiatives: Progress, prospects, and problems. In K. Fulbright-Anderson, A. C. Kubisch, & J. P. Connell (Eds.), New approaches to evaluating community initiatives, Volume 2: Theory, measurement, and analysis (pp. 15–44). Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desjarlais, R., Eisenberg, L., Good, B., & Kleinman, A. (1996). World mental health: Problems and priorities in low-income countries. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drew, N., Funk, M., Tang, S., Lamichhane, J., Chávez, E., Katontoka, S., et al. (2011). Human rights violations of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities: An unresolved global crisis. The Lancet, 378, 1664–1675. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61458-X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, J., & Patel, V. (2009). A movement for global mental health. African Journal of Psychiatry, 12(1), 1–3.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, J., McCay, L., & Semrau, M. (2011). Scale up of services for mental health in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet, 378, 1592–1603. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60891-X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ecks, S. (2005). Pharmaceutical citizenship: Antidepressant marketing and the promise of demarginalization in India. Anthropology & Medicine, 12, 239–254. doi:10.1080/13648470500291360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ecks, S. (2013, August). Panel summary—ethnographic perspectives on “global mental health.” Paper presented at the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences – 17th Congress. Manchester, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ecks, S., & Basu, S. (2009). How wide is the ‘treatment gap’ for antidepressants in India?: Ethnographic insights in private industry marketing strategies. Journal of Health Studies, 2, 68–80 Retrieved from http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/Output/190955/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernando, G. A. (2012). The roads less traveled: Mapping some pathways on the global mental health research roadmap. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49, 396–417. doi:10.1177/1363461512447137.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gable, L. (2007). The proliferation of human rights in global health governance. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 35, 534–544. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007.00178.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gülcür, L. (2000). Evaluating the role of gender inequalities and rights violations in women’s mental health. Health and Human Rights, 5(1), 46–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hatcher, R. J. (Chair). (2003, October). Tenth Canadian conference on international health, Canadian Society for International Health, Ottawa.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Development Research Centre (IDRC). (2003). Governance, equity and health. In International Development Research Centre (IDRC) 2004: E-books and catalogue, development dossiers, reports magazine, what is IDRC. Ottawa: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jain, S., & Jadhav, S. (2009). Pills that swallow policy: Clinical ethnography of a community mental health program in northern India. Transcultural Psychiatry, 46, 60–85. doi:10.1177/1363461509102287.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jakubec, S. L. (2015). Knowing the right to mental health: The social organization of research for global health governance. Conference abstract for the 34th International Congress on Law and Mental Health, July 12–17, 2015, Vienna, Austria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jakubec, S. L., & Campbell, M. (2003). Mental health research and cultural dominance: An analysis of the social construction of knowledge for international development. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 35(2), 74–88.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jakubec, S.L., & Rankin, J.M. (2014). Knowing the right to mental health: The social organization of research for global health governance. Journal of Health Diplomacy, 1, 2. Retrieved from: http://www.ghd-net.org/journal-health-diplomacy-volume-1-issue-2

  • Kessler, R. C., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Chatterji, S., Lee, S., Ormel, J., et al. (2009). The global burden of mental disorders: An update from the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale, 18, 23–33. doi:10.1017/S1121189X00001421.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, S. A., & Kutchins, H. (1992). The selling of DSM: The rhetoric of science in psychiatry. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsch, I. (2009). The emperor’s new drugs: Exploding the antidepressant myth. London: The Bodley Head.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klerman, G., Vaillant, G., Spitzer, R., & Michels, R. (1984). A debate on DSM–III. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 539–553.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • LeFrançois, B. A., Menzies, R., & Reaume, G. (Eds.) (2013). Mad matters: A critical reader in Canadian mad studies. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund, C., De Silva, M., Plagerson, S., Cooper, S., Chisholm, D., Das, J., et al. (2011). Poverty and mental disorders: Breaking the cycle in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet, 378, 1502–1514. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60754-X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maingay, S., Thornicroft, G., Huxley, P., Jenkins, R., & Szmukler, G. (2002). Mental health and human rights: The MI principles-turning rhetoric into action. International Review of Psychiatry, 14(1), 19–25. doi:10.1080/09540260120114023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mannan, H., El Tayeb, S., MacLachlan, M., Amin, M., McVeigh, J., Munthali, A., et al. (2013). Core concepts of human rights and inclusion of vulnerable groups in the mental health policies of Malawi, Namibia, and Sudan. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 7, 1. doi:10.1186/1752-4458-7-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marais, D., Sombié, I., Becerra-Posada, F., Montorzi, G., & de Haan, S. (2011). Governance, priorities and policies in national research for health systems in West Africa. Geneva: Council on Health Research for Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. (2014). Decolonizing global mental health: The psychiatrization of the majority world. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirzoev, T. N., Omar, M. A., Green, A. T., Bird, P. K., Lund, C., Ofori-Atta, A., et al. (2012). Research-policy partnerships – experiences of the mental health and poverty project in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Health Research Policy and Systems, 10(1), 30–30.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mohan, G., & Holland, J. (2001). Human rights and development in Africa: Moral intrusion or empowering opportunity? Review of African Political Economy, 28, 177–196. doi:10.1080/03056240108704524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moynihan, R., Heath, I., & Henry, D. (2002). Selling sickness: The pharmaceutical industry and disease mongering. BMJ, 324, 886–891.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G. B., & Prilleltensky, I. (2002). Doing psychology critically: Making a difference in diverse settings. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patel, V., & Saxena, S. (2014). Transforming lives, enhancing communities—innovations in global mental health. The New England Journal of Medicine, 370, 498–501. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1315214.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, V., & Thornicroft, G. (2009). Packages of care for mental, neurological, and substance use disorders in low- and middle-income countries: PLoS Medicine series. PLoS Medicine, 6(10), e1000160. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000160.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, V., Saraceno, B., & Kleinman, A. (2006). Beyond evidence: The moral case for international mental health. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 1312–1315. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.163.8.1312.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, V., Araya, R., Chatterjee, S., Chisholm, D., Cohen, A., De Silva, M., et al. (2007). Treatment and prevention of mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet, 370, 991–1005. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61240-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, V., Garrison, P., de Jesus, M. J., Minas, H., Prince, M., & Saxena, S. (2008). The Lancet’s series on global mental health: 1 year on. The Lancet, 372, 1354–1357. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61556-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prince, R. (1991). Review of From categories to contexts: A decade of the ‘new cross-cultural psychiatry by R. Littlewood. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 28(1), 41–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prince, M., Patel, V., Saxena, S., Maj, M., Maselko, J., Phillips, M. R., et al. (2007). No health without mental health. The Lancet, 370, 859–877. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61238-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read, U. M., & Doku, V. C. K. (2012). Mental health research in Ghana: A literature review. Ghana Medical Journal, 46(Suppl. 2), 29–38.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Reisman, J., Geinapp, A., & Stachowiak, S. (2007). A handbook of data collection tools: Companion to “A guide to measuring advocacy and policy.” Retrieved from http://www.organizationalresearch.com/publicationsandresources/a_handbook_of_data_collection_tools.pdf

  • Shorter, E. (1997). A history of psychiatry: From the era of the asylum to the age of Prozac. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. E. (2006). Institutional ethnography as practice. Toronto: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Summerfield, D. (2008). How scientifically valid is the knowledge base of global mental health? BMJ, 336, 992–994. doi:10.1136/bmj.39513.441030.AD.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Summerfield, D. (2012). Afterword: Against “global mental health”. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49, 519–530. doi:10.1177/1363461512454701.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Susser, E., & Patel, V. (2014). Psychiatric epidemiology and global mental health: Joining forces. International Journal of Epidemiology, 43, 287–293.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swartz, L., Kilian, S., Twesigye, J., Attah, D., & Chiliza, B. (2014). Language, culture, and task shifting—an emerging challenge for global mental health. Global Health Action, 7. doi:10.3402/gha.v7.23433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szasz, T. S. (2010). Psychiatry, anti-psychiatry, critical psychiatry: What do these terms mean? Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 17, 229–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornicroft, G., & Tansella, M. (2013). The balanced care model for global mental health. Psychological Medicine, 43, 849–863. doi:10.1017/S0033291712001420.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thornicroft, G., Cooper, S., Van Bortel, T., Kakuma, R., & Lund, C. (2012). Capacity building in global mental research. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 20, 13–24. doi:10.3109/10673229.2012.649117.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Thornicroft, G., Ruggeri, M., & Goldberg, D. (Eds.) (2013). Improving mental health care: The global challenge. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations General Assembly. (2007, January 17). 4th Session, Implementation of general assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 entitled “Human Rights Council”: Report of the special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt, A/HRC/4/28 . Retrieved from http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G07/102/97/PDF/G0710297.pdf?OpenElement

  • Weiss, C. H. (1995). Nothing as practical as good theory: Exploring theory-based evaluation for comprehensive community initiatives for children and families. In J. Connell, A. C. Kubisch, L. B. Schorr, & C. H. Weiss (Eds.), New approaches to evaluating community initiatives: Concepts, methods, and contexts (pp. 65–92). Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whiteford, H. A., Degenhardt, L., Rehm, J., Baxter, A. J., Ferrari, A. J., Erskine, H. E., et. al. (2013). Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: Findings from the global burden of disease study 2010. The Lancet, 382, 1575–1586. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61611-6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, J. (2012). The human right to health. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2004, August). Mental health and the global development agenda: What role for the world bank. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPH/Resources/376086-1256847692707/6526326-1287681563483/RachelMentalHealth.pdf

  • World Bank. (2008). Mental health patterns and consequences: Results from survey data in five developing countries (Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS4495). Retrieved from doi:10.1596/1813-9450-4495

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, Community and Education, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Sonya L. Jakubec

  2. Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Janet M. Rankin

Authors
  1. Sonya L. Jakubec
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Janet M. Rankin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sonya L. Jakubec .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Bonnie Burstow

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jakubec, S.L., Rankin, J.M. (2016). Interrogating the Rights Discourse and Knowledge-Making Regimes of the “Movement for Global Mental Health”. In: Burstow, B. (eds) Psychiatry Interrogated. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41174-3_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation