Derek Summerfield – Why Export Mental Health?

“When we globalize mental health, concepts of mental health, practices, and the ideology behind them, we are globalizing a particular way of being a person, a contemporary Western way of being a person.”

Derek Summerfield, honorary senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, University of London provides a critical view on global mental health. Arguing that it is irresponsible to export Western mental health concepts and methodologies that may have questionnable results even in the West to other societies, Dr. Summerfield provides suggestions on how mental health research could move forward.

Share on: