Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 221 – 236 PDF Mariana P. Socal, Joseph J. Amon, and João Biehl Abstract Over the past three decades, Brazil has developed a decentralized universal health system and achieved significant advances in key health indicators. At the same time, Brazil’s health system has struggled to ensure equitable and quality health services. One response to the broad promises and notable shortcomings has been a sharp rise…
Crisis Response as a Human Rights Flashpoint: Critical Elements of Community Support for Individuals Experiencing Significant Emotional Distress
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 105 – 120 PDF Peter Stastny, Anne M. Lovell, Julie Hannah, Daniel Goulart, Alberto Vasquez, Seana O’Callaghan, and Dainius Pūras Abstract This paper proposes a set of nine critical elements underpinned by human rights principles to support individuals experiencing a serious crisis related to mental health problems or psychosocial disabilities. These elements are distilled from a range of viable alternatives to traditional community mental health…
Adherence to the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in Czech Psychiatric Hospitals: A Nationwide Evaluation Study
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 21 – 34 PDF Petr Winkler, Lucie Kondrátová, Anna Kagstrom, Matěj Kučera, Tereza Palánová, Marie Salomonová, Petr Šturma, Zbyněk Roboch, and Melita Murko Abstract This study sought to evaluate the quality of care in Czech psychiatric hospitals and adherence to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Each psychiatric hospital was evaluated by a team comprising a service user, a psychiatrist, a…
PERSPECTIVE Traditional Healing Practices Involving Psychoactive Plants and the Global Mental Health Agenda: Opportunities, Pitfalls, and Challenges in the “Right to Science” Framework
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 145 – 150 PDF José Carlos Bouso and Constanza Sánchez-Avilés Introduction: Global mental health and traditional medicines The global mental health (GMH) movement aims to establish a world in which every human can access mental health services based on two fundamental principles: respect for human rights and evidence-based treatments. Despite being criticized, especially for its neocolonial tendency to impose psychiatric systems that defy local epistemologies,…
A Key, Not a Straitjacket: The Case for Interim Mental Health Legislation Pending Complete Prohibition of Psychiatric Coercion in Accordance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 163 – 178 PDF Laura Davidson Abstract The practice of coercion on the basis of psychosocial disability is plainly discriminatory. This has resulted in a demand from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD Committee) for a paradigm shift away from the traditional biomedical model and a global ban on compulsion in the psychiatric context. However, that has not occurred. This…
A Constructivist Vision of the First-Trimester Abortion Experience
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 237 – 250 PDF Sam Rowlands and Jeffrey Wale Abstract How might the abortion experience look in a world without the existing regulatory constraints? This paper critically assesses the evidence about how a high-quality abortion experience might be achieved in the first trimester. There would need to be positive obligations on states in pursuance of women’s reproductive rights. The onus would be on states and…
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Exploring the Potential of a Rights-Based Approach to Work and Social Inclusion for People with Lived Experience of Mental Illness in Ghana
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 91 – 104 PDF Ursula M. Read, Lionel Sakyi, and Wendy Abbey Abstract Much of the focus on human rights and mental health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been on protection from coercion and abuse and on expanding access to mental health services, rather than on promoting and protecting social and economic rights. Despite the importance of work for mental health, there has…
EDITORIAL Reimagining the Mental Health Paradigm for Our Collective Well-Being
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 1 – 6 PDF Audrey Chapman, Carmel Williams, Julie Hannah, and Dainius Pūras When we planned the special section of this issue and distributed our call for papers, we wanted to present a collection that would reflect our view that not only is there is no health without mental health, but there is no mental health without human rights. We were hopeful that papers from…
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The Waitangi Tribunal’s WAI 2575 Report: Implications for Decolonizing Health Systems
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 209 – 220 PDF Heather Came, Dominic O’Sullivan, Jacquie Kidd, and Timothy McCreanor Abstract Te Tiriti o Waitangi, a treaty negotiated between Māori (the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) and the British Crown, affirmed Māori sovereignty and guaranteed the protection of hauora (health). The Waitangi Tribunal, established in 1975 to investigate alleged breaches of the agreement, released a major report in 2019 (registered as WAI 2575)…
A Human Rights-Based Approach to Psychiatry: Is It Possible?
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 121 – 132 PDF Emma Broberg, Agneta Persson, Anna Jacobson, and Anna-Karin Engqvist Abstract While it is becoming more common to hear calls for a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to health, documented efforts to apply the approach in practice remain scant. This paper presents a review of a pilot study applying an HRBA to psychiatric care in Gothenburg, Sweden. Based on the reflections of some…
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