Call for Papers: Mental Health as a Social Justice Issue

Thu. Feb. 19, 2015

Studies in Social Justice is seeking contributions for its upcoming special issue, "Mental Health as Social Justice Issue: Beyond Psychocentrism," edited by: Lacey Croft (York University), Mandi Gray (York University) and Dr. Heidi Rimke (University of Winnipeg).

This special edition seeks to critically explore the complex relationship between social injustice and the pathologization of individuals. In order to do so, focus will be placed on critical approaches to understanding the power of medicine and psychiatry in modern society. The now commonly held view that some people are ab/normal is the consequence and reflection of the growing cultural authority of the human sciences in everyday life. The dominance of the pathological approach can be seen in what Ian Marsh (2010) has referred to as “the compulsory ontology of pathology,” and what Heidi Rimke has critiqued as “psychocentrism,” the view that all human problems are due to a flaw in the bodies/minds/psyches/souls of individual subjects (Rimke, 2000, 2003, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2011; Rimke & Hunt, 2002; Rimke & Brock, 2012).

Drawing upon the concept of psychocentrism, this special edition will problematize and critique the pathological approach by interrogating the increasing medicalization and psychiatrization of human life. Thus, this special issue seeks to link private troubles with public issues (Mills, 1959) by considering the ways in which the pathological approach to human problems has become the dominant model within popular culture and the academy alike.

Length: Articles should be approximately 6,000 words in length (not including references).

Publishing Schedule: March 6, 2015: deadline for proposals (350-500 word abstract); April 6, 2015: notification of acceptance; July 15, 2015: deadline for first drafts (articles are subject to a double blind peer review process).

For more details, information on possible topics, and submission instructions, please read the full call for papers on H-Net.