Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Critical Approaches to Mental Health

Course Description

The goals of this course are a) to introduce students to critical approaches to understanding mental health, with a particular focus on learnings from Mad Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Crip Theory, and Disability Justice  theoretical and activist work; and b) to examine how these critical approaches might be applied in the field of health promotion (and public health more broadly). Throughout the course, we will centre the critical knowledges, experiences and scholarship of those with lived experience of the mental health system. We will start by critically
examining dominant biomedical conceptualizations of mental health and mental illness, as well as the disciplines and institutions that uphold them (collectively known as the psy complex). Through this examination, we will come to understand how sanism –discrimination directed towards those labelled as “mentally ill” – manifests and is upheld by dominant systems. In particular, we will explore how sanism intersects with and is co-produced by other systems of oppression, including colonialism, racism and anti-Blackness, cisheterosexism, and classism, among others. In the final part of the course, we will explore applications of critical mental health perspectives, including to mental health research and service provision. Ultimately, students will be encouraged to reflect on their role in moving the field towards a more critical mental health promotion.

Course Objectives

1. Define sanism and recognize its manifestations;
2. Articulate how sanism intersects with and is co-produced by other forms of
   systemic oppression;
3. Apply critical theoretical perspectives relevant to mental health (e.g., from Mad Studies, Crip Theory, Disability Justice) to understand health promotion problems;
4. Reflect on one’s positionality in relation to the mental health system, mental health service users, and communities particularly harmed by biomedicine;
5. Develop the knowledge and skills needed to collaborate with service users/service user organizations to resist sanism in health promotion policy and practice.

Methods of Assessment

Critical Reflection – Individual Assignment	15%
Identifying Sanism in Everyday Life – Individual or Group Assignment	40%
Application to Public Health – Individual Assignment: – paper (35%) – presentation (10%)	45%