A Critical Approach to Abnormality 235In this chapter, the term decolonization refers to the dismantling of
values and methods that Western imperialism, in its various guises, has
exported around the world. As we illustrate below, concepts and behavioral
modification techniques from psychiatry and psychology—i.e., psy-
disciplines—have long been used to subtend various colonial relations,
with pre-determinations about which behaviors are abnormal often
justifying such arrangements. Deinstitutionalization refers to a series of
mental health policy changes initiated around the middle of the twentieth
century, continuing through today, whereby psychiatric asylums and
hospitals have gradually been closed, with those inhabiting them
encouraged to integrate back into society. Due to a host of sociopolitical
and economic obstacles, however, this has occurred primarily through the
administration of often powerful psychotropic drugs. And yet, this
alternately marks an important shift in the social values underlying mental
health care. Finally, decentralization refers to the way concepts across psy-
disciplines generally have become pre-packaged for distribution across
growing varieties of social contexts around the world. This includes
settings like schools and office buildings that have not traditionally been
designated for the provision of mental health services.
Decentralization can be understood as both an extension of colonialism
and a consequence of deinstitutionalization. It involves a double-
movement where, on the one hand, highly technical terms or interventive
strategies in psychology are circulated across professional contexts and
geographic boundaries, while, on the other hand, communities of support
are created—often through popular culture, like social media and blogs—
outside of professional mental health settings. With the reach of services
expanding into a greater variety of social spheres, there are obvious
professional benefits for those working within the biomedical industry. For
them, mental health care has become a commodity that can be sold or
exchanged on various socioeconomic markets. And yet, the
decentralization of psy-disciplines has alternately engendered possibilities
for the collectivization of suffering, with social advocacy movements, like
neurodiversity (McWade, Milton, & Beresford, 2015) and the hearing