How to decolonize your mental health.
Last week, we discussed what colonization and decolonization were, this week, we will discuss why this matters and how exactly we decolonize our mental health. How has mental health been colonized? For starters, diagnosis has a long history of being derived from colonization. It was used as a tool to control and punish those outside the norm, especially women, people of color, and LGBTQIA individuals. Diagnosis often doesn’t take into consideration cultural differences and life experience. Many of the symptoms and conditions that are deemed an illness by the DSM are considered gifts or positive traits by other cultures, so you could see how that could get challenging. Mental health treatment has also been colonized. Common therapeutic modalities such as CBT are rooted in colonization. CBT is focused on individualism and cognitive restructuring, which does not address the systemic challenges people face in their daily lives that affect their mental health. While individual responsibility is important to your own healing, so is systemic change. One can only take responsibility for things they have actual control over. No amount of cognitive skills will change housing and food insecurity, lack of physical or emotional safety, or lack of social support. Colonized mental health also looks like discrediting forms of healing that have traditionally been used by many different cultures, such as chanting, song and dance, and communal support.
How does one decolonize their mental health? You have many options! For starters, practicing self-compassion is key. Having compassion for your experience and how the greater systems you live under influence your mental wellbeing is a wonderful place to start. Only taking responsibility for what is yours to take responsibility for. Decolonizing mental health looks like respecting all kinds of avenues for healing, integrating mind, body, and spirit in the ways that work for you without judgement. Being mindful about how you speak about those who are different from you, ensuring we all live together peacefully and respectfully. It’s important to respect someone’s differences without imposing your own beliefs (that is colonization). It looks like not pathologizing everything about yourself or others, recognizing that some of your challenges come from issues in the larger systems, not something being wrong with you. It’s also important to practice self-acceptance instead of trying to force yourself to fit some standard mold. Decolonization also looks like engaging in social justice and working with the systems so that everyone has access to getting their basic needs met and are treated with dignity. Like most of the things we talk about here on this blog, one little blog post does not do it justice to understand all the nuances. In short, decolonization of mental health is all about understanding what is yours, what isn’t, and having self-compassion and acceptance, not just for yourself, but for everyone. Allowing whatever you find healing to be enough and not forcing yourself (or anyone else for that matter) to be someone you’re not.
Questions to ponder.
How have you fallen victim to colonized mental health?
What sensations in your body do you notice when you think about decolonizing mental health?
What are some other ideas you have about decolonizing mental health?
