Abstract
We live in a world in which the indices of poverty and social inequality rise on a daily basis along with the prevalence rates of emotional disorders. This is no mere coincidence. The topics of poverty and psychopathology are often erroneously linked on the basis of two assumptions. The first is the common notion that the poor have no psychological problems. Their problems are seen as material, economic, or physical, and therefore leave no room for psychological concerns. According to this view, it makes no sense to hire psychologists, for example, in hospitals or clinics in poor areas, when there are so many children with bloated tummies full of worms — as if worms were somehow a vaccine against psychological problems. When psychological services are planned for low-income communities, they usually exist only on paper. There is no building, not even a room, where these services can be provided. Hospitals claim they offer psychological services, but when individual attention is needed, the psychologist and patient slip away to find a corner where they can talk, because available rooms are designated for “more important” types of treatment. Privacy, as well as individual space, belongs to the dominant class. The poor are deprived of private space, since their lives are public, and their problems flow into the streets to be witnessed by their neighbors (Guimarães, 1998). Although their lives are exposed to public observation, and a total lack of privacy, their experience of true citizenship is limited, for they feel no power over their public lives.
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Moreira, V. (2003). Poverty and Psychopathology. In: Carr, S.C., Sloan, T.S. (eds) Poverty and Psychology. International and Cultural Psychology Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0029-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0029-2_4
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