Global mental wellness and spiritual geographies of care

Abstract

This chapter explores the context of global mental health (GMH), and the need for a global approach to protect and promote health, wellness, and mental health, as well as reducing the burden of chronic conditions and mental disorders. It is well recognized that global health promotion represents complex endeavors assisting people to promote their mental health at individual, national, and global levels; however, we argue this is done without taking spiritual determinants of chronicity into account, despite significant numbers of religious, spiritual and faith-based practitioners globally. The concept of spiritual geographies of care is introduced and described, as it resonates throughout the collection. This chapter explores key themes that emerged in each chapter, reflecting on the practice and benefit of spirituality for wellness, and we propose this includes biopsychosocial- spiritual perspectives despite living with chronic illness. Drawing attention to particular aspects of care and mental wellness, embedded in the framework of chronicity, this chapter explores tensions and promises as they are offered by our authors both for individual strategies and community approaches, as well as directing the reader to future areas of attention. What emerges in conclusion is a proposal for a Global Mental Wellness (GMW) agenda that seeks deeper collaborations and working relationships across biomedically-informed mental health care professionals and religious, spiritual or faith-based practitioners.