Abstract:
The aim of this article is to present the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH) and its most important critiques. Opponents of the MGMH – primarily trans- -cultural psychiatrists and medical anthropologists – point to a myriad of problems related to approaching mental health in supracultural and universalistic categories. Two dimensions of this criticism are discussed. Firstly, the MGMH is criticised as an expression of the neoliberalisation of medical discourse and practices, and a movement whose actions are focused on economic aspects of mental disorders (recognised as problems that generate costs for the economy) and depoliticising the actual sources of mental problems. Secondly, there is a dispute regarding the ontological status of mental disorders – embedded in its universalis<ic claims, the MGMH tends to lean towards biological explanations, while critics point to the lack of scientifi c evidence that would support such approach.
