Abstract
Drawing on the work of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Cambodia, this chapter explores the extent to which models of mental health care can be ‘adapted’ for use in different countries. The chapter problematizes assumptions that systems of understanding about emotional wellbeing, and associated interventions intended to support emotional wellbeing, have failed to develop in low-income countries. The chapter reflects on both the challenges and opportunities that arise when knowledge and practice from the East and West dynamically interact. The case is made that an absence of awareness of the interplay between culture and mental health can serve to reduce the success and appropriate implementation of interventions, and may devalue and undermine resources and systems of support that are already present. The chapter highlights how this is relevant not only for the Global Mental Health community seeking to work across continents and countries but also for services within high-income countries that seek to develop and deliver interventions.
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Notes
- 1.
TPO will be used throughout this chapter to refer to TPO Cambodia.
- 2.
In the time of the Khmer Rouge information, such as that an individual was educated or spoke a foreign language could lead to their death. This led to a culture in which people ‘dumbed down’ their background and disowned knowledge and skills.
- 3.
Up-to-date information on the range of mental health work TPO is currently involved in is available on their website, http://www.tpocambodia.org.
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Gamble, L. (2017). Voices from the Field: A Cambodian-led Approach to Mental Health. In: White, R., Jain, S., Orr, D., Read, U. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39510-8_22
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