A Critical Approach to Abnormality 253Whether mediated through virtual interface or face-to-face interaction,
it is becoming increasingly clear that the pressing mental health demands
of the twenty-first century can only be met by putting the healing power of
social networks to use. Perhaps most importantly, many of the alternatives
charted in this section point to the importance of building communities
around a corresponding sense of solidarity, which might engender spaces
for less colonizing ways of being together. And yet, it is likewise important
to remain vigilant of the various ways neoliberal health policies can
subvert the interests of indigenous communities and emerging social
practices such as those outlined in this chapter.
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, the history of abnormal psychology has been illustrated
through three interrelated social movements: decolonization,
deinstitutionalization, and decentralization. Such trends have been outlined
in a way to understand how they each emerged in reaction to a single,
continuous trend of globalizing Western psychology through a colonization
of culture via concepts of abnormality and capitalist markets (see Watters,
2010). Additionally, the three movements outlined above have largely
fallen short—despite many admirable intentions—because their respective
strengths and obstacles are not often understood adequately in relation to
one another. And as such, abnormal psychology represents a sphere of
continued pathologization of otherness, as calls become increasingly
louder for alternative approaches to care in cases of psychosocial suffering
(Frances, 2013; Miller, 2015; Karter and Kamens, 2019).
On the other hand, if we take the social consequences of the above
three movements seriously, we would have to account for mental health
services today insofar as they: 1) operate as tools for social and
communicative control, 2) are no longer connected to any single set of
social institutions, and 3) are simultaneously pre-packaged and made
available for application to the mental health concerns of any cultural
group around the world. It would, as such, be something of a mistake to