Mental Health in the War on Terror: Culture, Science, and Statecraft

Abstract

Reviews the book, Mental Health in the War on Terror: Culture, Science, and Statecraft by Neil K. Aggarwal (see record 2014-48860-000). The author addresses a few basic themes to highlight the ways in which 'mental health' has become implicated in the politics of the so-called war on terror. The first three chapters address about the American government transformation of mental health knowledge and practice, the second three cover the responses of people responsible for such knowledge and practice to that transformation. Aggarwal proposes to examine medical, legal, academic, and policy texts to give us an understanding of how the war on terror has changed the medico-legal nature of mental health knowledge and practice. The book has been hailed by some in high terms, and indeed, a review of the general claims made throughout the book would offer the grounds for such assessment. The author provides very useful glimpse into the internal cultural logic of Muslim groups such as Al-Qaeda and highlights the similarities of Al-Qaeda's logic with those scientific perspectives which he had termed orientalist. The book talks about the involvement of mental health professionals in the conceptualization, development, and evaluation of de-radicalization programs for captured militant Islamists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)