Globalization as Re-traumatization: Rebuilding Haiti from the Spirit Up

Abstract

This article provides a case study of Haiti within the context of both its distant history of colonialism and its recent history of globalization. We then provide a discussion that highlights the relationship between globalization, poverty, and mental health in low and middle-income countries and describe the development of Pwogwam Santé Mantal, a community-based mental health program in Jeremie, Haiti. We present results of focus groups and interviews that provide a sense of how mental health issues are discussed in this region and present results from a pilot survey which corroborate focus group and interview data. We describe a mental health seminar that took place in July of 2010 and present outcome evaluation data for the seminar. We end with a discussion of how these data and this mental health program address the problematic relationship between globalization and mental health and highlight implications for future research and program/policy development. © 2012 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.