The Psychiatry of Poverty

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways that psychiatry in Uganda flourished in a period of experimentation and innovation during the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this period of relative political stability in Uganda’s history since 1962, psychiatrists looked to reorient the relationship between psychiatry and the mentally ill, as well as to highlight the relevance of psychiatry to the priorities of development and nation building. This was framed as a ‘psychiatry of poverty’, in which plans for the development of psychiatry shifted from the already overstretched psychiatric institutions towards the training of non-psychiatrists, or psychiatric auxiliaries, who could be trained to take on responsibility for mental health care at minimal cost. It explores how psychiatrists launched new training courses for police officers, lawyers and social workers, established Africa’s first National Association for Mental Health, and started mental health education. It also questions the ‘success’ of attempts at reform, highlighting not only the gap between intentions and ‘on the ground’ change, but also disconnects with the needs and priorities of the patients themselves.