Mental Health Needs Anthropology: A New Humanism for Psychology

A new article published in Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science features a wide-ranging interview between several Norwegian psychologists and anthropologist Tim Ingold. The conversation is part of the “Return to Reality” research initiative, which challenges the distancing norms of professionalized care and seeks alternatives rooted in presence, responsiveness, and kinship.

Inspired by both philosophy and anthropology, the authors believe Ingold’s approach holds vital lessons for those in the psy-disciplines struggling to meet the ethical and relational demands of their work.

“In the ‘Return to Reality’ research initiative, we seek ways to shift from theoretical models that distance and obscure mental health phenomena and practices as objects of study. Instead, we look for ways, and concepts, that allow us to engage with these phenomena as parts of the world—our common world, the one world in which life is real,” write the authors.

“What Ingold tries to convey through the idea of ‘correspondence,’ as we understand it, is that listening to the world and responding with care, sensitivity, and judgment can help restore our kinship with the earth and its inhabitants. This seems more pertinent than ever in these times of ecological and humanitarian crisis.”

Anthropology can offer different kinds of insights into the human condition from the psychological disciplines, due to its differing areas of focus and modes of observation. Anthropologist Tim Ingold has written several books that, according to the authors of the current paper published in Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, hold lessons for psychologists.

The authors of the current paper—Norwegian psychologists Bård Bertelsen, Odd Kenneth Hillesund, Tore Dag Bøe, Per Arne Lidbom, and Rolf Sundet—believe Ingold’s novel ways of considering human experience have much to offer the psychological disciplines.