Inventing Mental Health First Aid: The Problem of Psychocentrism

Abstract

This article provides a sociopolitical critique of contemporary Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) discourses. The concept of psychocentrism, adopted as an analytical tool, critiques the problematic nature of MHFA premises and practices that automate, expedite, enforce, and normalize the global movement to psychiatrize human distress. Contesting MHFA’s international image as a benevolent, individual crisis intervention model, this essay discusses MHFA as a technique of neoliberal governance, moral surveillance, and social control, responsible for reinvigorating the psychiatric profession while dividing and demoting the populace.

Keywords

• mental health
• mental health literacy
• mental health first aid
• psychocentrism
• neoliberalism
• critical psychiatry
• psychiatrization