Developing mental health services in the global south

Abstract

This paper outlines the diversity of medical and healing systems indigenous to many regions of the world and their under-development and suppression during colonialism; describes briefly social and cultural changes that have taken place in the Global South after de-colonisation, resulting in varying degrees of a plurality (in terms of cultural style) of mental health systems currently available; summarizes important general principles of post-colonial development in the Global South; and, finally, points to ways of mental health and wellbeing development in the Global South by drawing on the example of Sri Lanka where the author was involved in a four-year research and capacity building project between 2007 and 2012. The paper takes a historical post-colonial approach to development on the principals of sustainability and cultural relevance and argues for a pragmatic approach in the short term while building up a body of knowledge about the countries concerned, their ground realities and their indigenous psychologies.

Keywords:

• Post-colonial
• bottom-up
• cultural diversity
• indigenous

Note

Notes

1 Jointly implemented by the People’s Rural Development Association (PRDA) in Sri Lanka and McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute at Montreal with support from the Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI), a collaborative research funding partnership of the Canadian organisations