November 2017 Meeting

The working group members discussed mental health in relation to displacement (as this is a core theme in the research projects of this working group) and the political situation in Catalonia during the November elections. 

Research projects in global mental health are underway in Chile; Mexico; Spain; U.S.  These projects involve participants who have been experienced displacement—i.e. deportees, immigrants, refugees. We seek to comparatively analyze and understand how these conditions affect mental health and wellbeing specifically related to themes of precarity, social inequality, vulnerability, and racism. This center is interested in the question of whether policies that restrict immigration or deport vulnerable populations could be social determinants of mental health.

We are also interested in how the political conflict in Catalonia and Spain has impacted psychological and social wellbeing. The MOU agreement between UCSD and Rogili y Virgili continues collaboration between UCSD Center for Iberian Latin American Studies and Center for Global Mental Health with recent (2017) CILAS Visiting Scholars (PI, Professor Angel Martínez-Hernáez).