About the Journal

The aim of this international journal is to offer a forum for researchers, scholars and practitioners of mental health care practice to critically reflect on the ideas, theory, and practices of global mental health and indigenous (traditional and cultural) healing. The journal will facilitate a critical reflection of the research and wellness practices that places a priority on improving equality of mental health and well-being for all people worldwide. The journal seeks to define and locate critical traditional healing methods within the broader historical, economic, social and political contexts of global mental health care. Through a critical examination of the various ways in which Western mental health is practiced globally, the journal would establish a critical understanding of the economic and political engagements that underpin clinical practice at local, national, and international levels.
Moreover, the journal seeks to engage in a critical examination of the various ways in which Western models of diagnosis and treatment – DSM-5 (Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed.) and the ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO) – have dominated the mental health arena. While Western models seem to dominate the mental healthcare terrain in the West, it is fast becoming the norm in Low and Middle Income Countries’ (LMIC) mental health trajectory of care. Western narratives
about mental illness, mental health, and well-being tend to dominate over local LMIC traditional and indigenous healing practices.