Ethics and Humanitarianism in Global Mental Health

Abstract

This chapter addresses the intellectual history and definitions of ethics, humanitarianism, and global mental health. In recent decades there has been an increasing use of the terms ethics and humanitarianism; factors such as the events of World War II, the volume of immigration, political conflicts, and famine are often cited as driving the use of the terms “ethics” and “humanitarianism” (see Figs. 1 and 2 which depict the frequency of the use of the terms from a corpus of books in English) (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Humanitarianism&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CHumanitarianism%3B%2Cc0). The historical, economic, political, and sociocultural background and aspects of globalization are mentioned, and the ethical implications of these factors are also discussed. A definition of global mental health is suggested. Five principal criteria are advanced for an activity to be considered as pertaining to global mental health. Potential negative and unethical practices even if considered humanitarian are cited. The chapter then concludes with examples of ethical missteps in such areas as education, research, training, and funding. Suggestions for minimizing negative ethical practices are made.

“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.”

Camus

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”

Immanuel Kant