Community mental health, psychoanalysis, and freedom: The case of Palestine

Abstract

The authors describe community mental health in Palestine from several vantage points: Palestine's historical and current context of military/political violence under Israeli occupation, its health care system and system of mental health care, and the status of its mental health staffing and training. Vignettes illustrate characteristic challenges and opportunities for Palestine within the domain of mental health. The roles of cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoanalytic thinking are discussed in terms of current practice, with an eye toward policy planning for a fully integrated model of health care delivery. The authors argue that the values of justice, freedom, and human rights are fundamental to well-being, and that the theory and practice of community mental health must support active resistance to violation of these principles.

What would Freud have made of it? Notes on a “normal pathological organization” within contemporary psychoanalysis

“…Rather than a gag, psychoanalysis could provide a platform for those psychologically impacted by systemic social injustice. Opening up this as an issue could facilitate the development of mutually enriching relationships with Palestinian clinicians working in our field (Jabr & Berger, 2023;Sheehi & Sheehi, 2022). This will take time, and a capacity to resist the pressure to be silent.…”