ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the debates in global mental health grounded within the context of our experiences in Liberia. It argues that only through first hand experiences is it possible to progress beyond rhetoric into praxis to minimize potential harm and maximize potential benefit of the global mental health movement. The chapter begins with Reverend Bill's personal account and then connects this with current critiques in the field of global mental health. Global mental health has been built in part on the concept of a treatment gap, which is the discrepancy between the putative burden of mental health problems and the availability of evidence-based treatments. Research in middle-income countries presents a different picture from what the authors have observed in Liberia, which is basically a population-wide gap in access. Finally the chapter focuses on power and power systems. It also focuses on power can examine how medicalization is employed at policy, provider, and patient levels to identify benefits, harm, and tradeoffs.
