Mental Health and Urban Life: Experiences from Colombia

Abstract

This chapter looks into the main aspects impacting on mental health and daily life in Colombia, taking Bogotá as central reference. Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia, is where different problems affecting the entire national territory converge and where new strategies are devised for the improvement of the mental health and the lifestyle of its population. The lack of implementation of public policies for social inclusion, life quality, and mental health in the city of Bogotá is a reflection of the difficulties faced across the national territory. Colombia was the epicenter of drug trafficking in the 1960s leading to an upsurge of violence countrywide. Although the drug business has been gradually declining in Colombia, corruption, outlawed armed groups, and social inequality contribute to phenomena such as displacement, addictions, and lack of mental health-care programs. This situation has undermined the development of a health-centered culture centered on the quality of life of its inhabitants. In this chapter, we describe in detail the most relevant social problems that Colombia faces and how they affect the population’s life expectancy and mental health. In addition, we advocate for the development of a state policy that designs and creates mechanisms of action for the management of social and scientific mental health platforms that provide healthy lifestyles in Colombia.