Pathologizing the Poor? Mental Health and Positive Psychology

Glenn AdamsDepartment of Psychology, University of Kansas

2015-2016 Visiting Scholar, Centre for Critical Development Studies, UTSC

International Development Conference06 FEB 2016

So, comrades, let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating states, institutions and societies which draw their inspiration from her. … For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades … we must work out new concepts, and try to set afoot a new [hu]man.

-- Franz Fanon (1961). Wretched of the Earth

Traditional Approach: Abnormal Psychology• MH as absence of distress, disorder, disability, or illness

Positive Psychology Response• MH as wellness: what are the ways of being that promote

happiness, flourishing, optimal well-being?

Implications for MGMH• beyond “people living with mental health problems and

psychosocial disabilities” • What are the ways of being that promote happiness, flourishing,

optimal well-being?

Mental Health and Positive Psychology

Like other perspectives in hegemonic psychological science, positive psychology …• has its basis in a relatively narrow range of cultural ecologies

associated with Euro-American global modernity• prescribes patterns associated with neoliberal developmentality• interprets these patterns as optimal expressions of unfettered

human nature or leading edge of cultural progress • judges difference from this standard as (pathological) deviance:

– productive of ill-being – underdevelopment-prone “state of mind”

Positive Psychology: Pathologizing the Poor?

Neoliberal Developmentality(e.g., Mawuko-Yeguvah, 2014)

Embodied habits of mind (thought, desire) that orient a person toward

– an entrepreneurial model of self– opportunities for personal growth and self-actualization, – exploration and expression of authentic desires, – pursuit of defining aspirations.

cf. Higgins (1996) on promotion-focused self-regulation orientation.

Developmentality DiscourseThe Social Welfare Department [in Lagos] is concerned at the evidence of widespread emotional insecurity amongst children. If the argument put forward by Dr. Bowlby and others is accepted, that a child may suffer lasting damage to its emotional development if separated at an early age from its mother, many Lagos boys and girls must grow up with their ability to form relationships of love impaired … The exchange of children between members of the family encourages them to identify themselves with the family group, and they must learn not to rely too much on any one relationship. It is arguable that they grow up to depend less emotionally on any single attachment … By learning to trust in the solidarity of the family group, they limit the intensity of their feelings (p. 64)

Marris, P. (1961) Family and social change in an African city: A study of rehousing in Lagos. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

Developmentality Discourse

Marris’ comments reflect and reproduce hegemonic standard of neoliberal developmentality wherein “true” love involves• investment of affection in a “soul mate” who facilitates mutual fulfillment• growth-oriented, self-expansive pursuit of happiness and personal satisfaction• exploration and expression of authentic emotions and desires• care as provision of emotional support to provide loved ones with secure base

for their own growth and exploration (e.g., Bowlby, 1969)

Marris then interprets observations of Lagos families in pathological terms against this standard.

Example #2: Dilemmas of True Love(with Phia Salter, Texas A&M University)

Participants Kansas City, USA (n=31); Accra, Ghana (n=34); Navrongo, UER, Ghana (n=36)

Procedure:

Salter, P.S. & Adams, G. (2012). Mother or wife? An African dilemma tale and the psychological dynamics of sociocultural change. Social Psychology, 42(4), 232-242.

Participants completed a resource allocation task as they emerged from Pentecostal/Charismatic (PCC) or mainstream churches.

Suppose there is a health emergency and several people request your help to pay for medical treatment. The requests are more than you can manage with your limited resources. Whom do you help? Please rank the following relationships according to the order in which you would provide treatment.

Kansas City

Accra Navrongo

3

5

7 MotherSpouse

Care

Pri

orit

y Sc

ore

US participants (and GH PCC-goers) tended to prioritize care to spouse over mother.

Responses suggest a construction of love as emotional support. Orientation toward Neoliberal Developmentality:

Participants invest in the relationship that provides present satisfaction, best expresses deepest hopes and aspirations

Ghanaian participants (especially in less cosmopolitan settings) tended to prioritize care to mother over spouse.

Responses suggest a construction of love as material care (Coe, 2011). Orientation toward Broad Sustainability: Participants invest in the relationship that reflects more enduring connection, history of mutual obligation

Research Example #2: Summary

Conclusion: Decolonizing Love and Well-Being

Hegemonic Science• Dominant perspectives of hegemonic psychological science

prescribe growth-oriented ways of loving and being. • Dominant theoretical perspectives judge ways of loving and being

in many Global South settings as unhealthy deviations from normative standard.

Conclusion: Decolonizing Love and Well-Being

Decolonial Response• Patterns observed across many Global settings constitute a form of

sustainability-oriented relationality worthy of emulation.• “Standard” forms of being in hegemonic psychology resonate with

particular cultural ecologies that have their own “pathologies”• Oriented toward narrow accumulation that reproduces inequality• Related to history and present of dispossession and violence.