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Collective Mental Health and Social Determination: Paradigmatic Possibilities

Abstract:

In this theoretical review, I explore possibilities for the construction of a collective mental health paradigm. I conduct such review by distancing myself from positivist, functionalist, biomedical and individualist perspectives, while emphasizing the fundamental role of social determination processes conceived from a critical, intercultural and transdisciplinary standpoint. The procedure involved an exploratory review of sources entitled “collective mental health” (2016-2021) and the inclusion of additional key publications. Results indicate the importance of theorizing mental health in ways that are complex and dialectical; conducting an ecological contextualization of suffering; activating wellness strategies; and making permanent efforts towards reflexivity around interculturality and power relations. Explored possibilities highlight the essential contribution of Latin American critical epidemiology, in constant dialogue with other valuable knowledge. From such dialogic construction, a collective mental health paradigm emerges as a powerful alternative to address mental suffering in the context of social systems that make us ill.