PMID- 33211266
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20211025
LR  - 20220218
IS  - 1573-076X (Electronic)
IS  - 0165-005X (Print)
IS  - 0165-005X (Linking)
VI  - 45
IP  - 4
DP  - 2021 Dec
TI  - "We Need Other Human Beings in Order to be Human": Examining the Indigenous 
      Philosophy of Umunthu and Strengthening Mental Health Interventions.
PG  - 613-628
LID - 10.1007/s11013-020-09692-4 [doi]
AB  - This paper examines how cultural, historical and contemporary perspectives of 
      mental health continue to inform ways of understanding and responding to mental 
      distress even under the biomedical gaze of the Movement for Global Mental Health 
      (MGMH). Based on experiences in Malawi, the authors explore three prominent 
      interventions (practical support, counselling and support groups) employed by 
      village health workers within a mental health task-shifting initiative and reveal 
      how the ancient philosophy of Umunthu with its values of interconnectedness, 
      inclusion and inter-relationships informs and shapes the direction of these 
      interventions. Practical support is marshalled through traditional village 
      structures, counselling provides advice and an encouragement to hope, and support 
      groups provide a place for emotional exchange and a forum for the enactment of 
      values, reflection and reinforcement of Umunthu. What are pronounced as 
      biomedical psychosocial interventions are in fact the delivery of culturally 
      embedded therapeutic approaches. Historical and socio-political evidence is 
      offered to explain the dominance of biomedical perspectives and the HSAs' 
      responses and a call is made for a transformation of MGMH to embrace rich 
      philosophies such as Umunthu and enact respectful, inclusive and democratic 
      values to enlist collaborations between equals to develop relevant and effective 
      knowledge and local responses to mental distress.
CI  - (c) 2020. The Author(s).
FAU - Wright, Jerome
AU  - Wright J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9740-0534
AD  - Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Seebohm Rowntree Building, 
      Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK. jerome.wright@york.ac.uk.
FAU - Jayawickrama, Janaka
AU  - Jayawickrama J
AD  - Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Seebohm Rowntree Building, 
      Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
AD  - Centre for Community Wellbeing, Department of History, College of Liberal Arts, 
      Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20201119
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Cult Med Psychiatry
JT  - Culture, medicine and psychiatry
JID - 7707467
SB  - IM
MH  - Community Health Workers
MH  - Humans
MH  - Malawi
MH  - *Mental Disorders/therapy
MH  - *Mental Health
MH  - Philosophy
PMC - PMC8526463
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Collaboration
OT  - Health Surveillance Assistants
OT  - Malawi
OT  - Mental distress
OT  - Umunthu
COIS- On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no 
      conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2020/11/20 06:00
MHDA- 2021/10/26 06:00
PMCR- 2020/11/19
CRDT- 2020/11/19 12:16
PHST- 2020/10/09 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/11/20 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/10/26 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2020/11/19 12:16 [entrez]
PHST- 2020/11/19 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1007/s11013-020-09692-4 [pii]
AID - 9692 [pii]
AID - 10.1007/s11013-020-09692-4 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Cult Med Psychiatry. 2021 Dec;45(4):613-628. doi: 10.1007/s11013-020-09692-4. 
      Epub 2020 Nov 19.