Abstract
The chapter provides a brief review of the process, development, and status of mental health work in Peru. It presents the experience of the Mental Health Unit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru (CVR) and its contribution to the understanding and management of mental health issues. This work gathered contributions from various teams of mental health professionals in the country, from previous decades and at the same time promoted and inspired the one developed later. It proposes a methodology that recognizes the subject as the axis of their transformation processes and shows how the living conditions associated with submission, abuse, and violence generate emotional suffering in individuals and peoples, giving rise to serious mental health problems that must be addressed in a comprehensive manner, prioritizing a community approach.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) is taking on board the proposals put forward in the CVR’s Final Report to generate processes of change and reform in mental health, where the community approach is becoming more important and is being consolidated in the new proposal for community mental health centers.
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Notes
- 1.
Paulo Freire was in the country, at the end of the 1960s, advising on education.
- 2.
Personally: Carmen Aldana, Vilma Yarleque, Miryam Rivera y Rosa María Cueto.
Institutions: Asociación Paz y Esperanza, Centro Amazónico de Antropología y Aplicación Práctica (CAAAP), Centro de Atención Psicosocial (CAPS), Comisión Episcopal de Acción Social (CEAS).
Estudio para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer (DEMUS), Red para la Infancia (REDINFA), Unidad de responsabilidad social del Departamento de Psicología de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (URSpsi-PUCP), Asociación Wiñastin.
- 3.
Miryam Rivera, Ana Reyes and Claudia Lema (South Central Office), Karina Dianderas (Central Office), Sandy Martel and Luis Cabrera (Nor East Office), Giovana Campos (Andean South Office), Marisol Vega (Lima NOS Office), Fryné Santisteban (Systematization Psychosocial Sequelae) and Elsa León, Francisco Diez Canseco and Viviana Valz Gen (Central Office).
- 4.
Amazon Center for Anthropology and Practical Application (CAAAP), Social Action Commission (CEAS), Psychosocial Care Center (CAPS), Civil Association for Human Rights Education with Health Application (EDHUCASalud), Mental Health Board (MSM), Paz and Hope and Network for Children and the Family (REDINFA).
- 5.
María Ángela Cánepa, Karina Dianderas, Elena Peña Silvia Revilla, Rosa Ruiz, Fryné Santisteban, Viviana Valz Gen and Marisol Vega.
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Valz Gen, V. (2022). Working Mental Health in Peru. In: Lira, E., Cornejo, M., Morales, G. (eds) Human Rights Violations in Latin America. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97542-5_19
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