Neoliberalism and the Global Export of Psychiatry: Interview with Justin Karter

From Depth Work: A Holistic Mental Health Podcast: “Commercialized psychiatric and psychological knowledge encourages us to think of ourselves primarily as consumers and promotes a set of values that suggest some of us have minds or brains that should be ‘fixed’ with particular products or services. These neoliberal values have led to a great deal of institutional corruption and also have been exported beyond the Western world across the globe. Many researchers, clinicians and activists have rallied together to fight against medicalized global mental health initiatives which promote a narrow Westernized notion of wellness and define how treatment should look, often at the expense of local healing practices and without the participation of people with lived experience. Justin Karter, counseling psychologist, and research news editor at Mad In America, has spent a long time advocating for epistemic justice in the psy disciplines and helping to expose practices and policies that undermine people’s human rights and agency.