Globalization and Neoliberalism: Structural Determinants of Global Mental Health?

Abstract

Globalization is reshaping the world, the conditions in which we exist and the societies in which we live. However, globalization is not politically neutral; in its current form, it is enmeshed with the ideology of neoliberalism. This ideology encompasses both economic theory and normative ideals of self and society. Thus, neoliberal globalization spreads both the economic and normative elements of neoliberalism across the globe. Neoliberal globalization influences global mental health in three spheres. Firstly, it alters the material conditions of life through its interactions with inequality, recessions, employment, and living environments. Secondly, it changes the cultural and ideological environments it encounters, with implications for the goals, values, satisfaction, and self-conception of those within. Finally, the globalization of psychiatry itself poses new challenges and questions for how we can address mental illness in heterogeneous global contexts, promoting mental health for all while avoiding the mistakes of the past. Ultimately, I argue that those involved in mental health must not only be more willing to discuss the ways in which upstream sociopolitical factors act as structural determinants of mental health, but they must also be prepared to challenge these determinants.