The Movement for Global Mental Health: Critical Views from South and Southeast Asia (Health, Medicine, and Science in Asia)

In The Movement for Global Mental Health: Critical Views from South and Southeast Asia , prominent anthropologists, public health physicians, and psychiatrists respond sympathetically but critically to the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH). They question some of its fundamental assumptions: the idea that "mental disorders" can clearly be identified; that they are primarily of biological origin; that the world is currently facing an "epidemic" of them; that the most appropriate treatments for them normally involve psycho-pharmaceutical drugs; and that local or indigenous therapies are of little interest or importance for treating them. The contributors argue that, on the contrary, defining "mental disorders" is difficult and culturally variable; that social and biographical factors are often important causes of them; that the "epidemic" of mental disorders may be an effect of new ways of measuring them; and that the countries of South and Southeast Asia have abundant, though non-psychiatric, resources for dealing with them. In short, they advocate a thoroughgoing mental health pluralism Cover 1 Table of Contents 6 1. Global Mental Health 8 Views from South Asia and Beyond 8 William S. Sax and Claudia Lang 8 Critical Histories 40 2. Mental Ills for All 42 Genealogies of the Movement for Global Mental Health 42 Stefan Ecks 42 3. Schizoid Balinese? 66 Anthropology’s Double Bind: Radical Alterity and Its Consequences for Schizophrenia 66 Annette Hornbacher 66 4. Misdiagnosis 102 Global Mental Health, Social Determinants of Health and Beyond 102 Anindya Das and Mohan Rao 102 The Limits of Global Mental Health 134 5. Jinns and the Proletarian Mumin Subject 136 Exploring the Limits of Global Mental Health in Bangladesh 136 Projit Bihari Mukharji 136 6. Psychedelic Therapy 166 Diplomatic Re-compositions of Life/Non-life, the Living and the Dead 166 Harish Naraindas 166 Alternatives 212 7. The House of Love and the Mental Hospital 214 Zones of Care and Recovery in South India 214 Murphy Halliburton 214 8. Ayurvedic Psychiatry and the Moral Physiology of Depression in Kerala 244 Claudia Lang 244 9. Global Mental Therapy 272 William S. Sax 272 Afterwords 302 10. Global Mental Health 304 Love and Justice 304 Johannes Quack 304 11. “Treatment” and Why We Need Alternatives 316 An Autoethnographic Reflection on Psychiatric Incarceration in India 316 Anonymous 316 Index 344 In this volume, prominent anthropologists, public health physicians, and psychiatrists respond sympathetically but critically to the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH), which seeks to export psychiatry throughout the world. They question some of its fundamental assumptions: the idea that "mental disorders" can clearly be identified; that they are primarily of biological origin; that the world is currently facing an "epidemic" of them; that the most appropriate treatments for them normally involve psycho-pharmaceutical drugs; and that local or indigenous therapies are of little interest or importance for treating them. Instead, the contributors argue that labeling mental suffering as "illness" or "disorder" is often highly problematic; that the countries of South and Southeast Asia have abundant, though non- psychiatric, resources for dealing with it; that its causes are often social and biographical; and that many non-pharmacological therapies are effective for dealing with it. In short, they advocate a thoroughgoing mental health pluralism. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie Edited By William Sax And Claudia Lang. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web.