*With apologies for cross-posting*
2nd Call for Papers: RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London, 28–30 August 2019
Hopeful, troubled or both together? New geographies of mental health and wellbeing
Session convenors: Chloe Asker (University of Exeter) and Ed Kiely (University of Cambridge)
Session sponsorship: Geographies of Health and Wellbeing Research Group
The decade since the publication of Hester Parr’s seminal volume Mental Health and Social Space (Parr, 2008) has been troubled, and troubling. A global recession and the rollout of austerity have contributed to worsening public mental health (Barr et al., 2015; Mattheys, 2017) and declining service provision (Gilburt, 2015; Power and Bartlett, 2018). Rates of suicide and self harm among young people have soared (Morgan et al., 2017) and antidepressant prescriptions have more than doubled in a decade (Campbell, 2017).
Yet at the same time, a stated commitment to parity of esteem for mental health in NHS (Gilburt, 2018) has been accompanied by the roll-out of the IAPTS programme, with 900,000 people per year now receiving talking therapy for anxiety and depression (NHS, 2018). Nationwide surveys report a significant decline in stigma, linked to national campaigns such as the Time For Change campaign (Evans-Lacko et al., 2014), and Heads Together.
Do these positive trends indicate ‘hopeful adaptation’ (Power et al., 2018) to straitened times? Or are they only masking the emergence of ‘less-than-human geographies’ (Philo, 2017) of doubt and despair in a neoliberal world? This session sets out to ask how the geography of mental health and wellbeing should respond to these seeming contradictions, and invites papers on the following themes:
● What are the theoretical innovations that can help us to stay with the trouble (Haraway, 2016) in troubling times?
● How can we continue to move beyond the dualisms (mind/body, researcher/service user, hope/despair) that have long framed mental health research?
● What role should lived experience play within our research?
● How should we respond to growing evidence of a mental health crisis within academia itself (Grove, 2018)?
Please send 250-word abstracts to [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> and [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> by Friday 1st February.
We welcome proposals for non-traditional formats of presentation, such as film, audio or visual images. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to discuss the session further.
References
Barr, B., Kinderman, P., and Whitehead, M. (2015) Trends in mental health inequalities in England during a period of recession, austerity and welfare reform 2004 to 2013. Social Science and Medicine 147, 324–331
Campbell, D. (29 Jun 2017) NHS prescribed record number of antidepressants last year. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/29/nhs-prescribed-record-number-of-antidepressants-last-year <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/29/nhs-prescribed-record-number-of-antidepressants-last-year> [Accessed 8 Jan 2019]
Evans-Lacko, S., Corker, E., Williams, P., Henderson, C., and Thornicroft, G. (2014) Effect of the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign on trends in mental-illness-related public stigma among the English population in 2003–13: an analysis of survey data. The Lancet Psychiatry 1(2), 121–128
Gilburt, H. (2015) Mental health under pressure (Briefing). London: The King’s Fund. Retrieved from:https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/field/field_publication_file/mental-health-under-pressure-nov15_0.pdf <https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/field/field_publication_file/mental-health-under-pressure-nov15_0.pdf> [Accessed 8 Jan 2019]
Gilburt, H. (2018) Funding and staffing of NHS mental health providers: still waiting for parity. London: The King’s Fund. Retrieved from https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/funding-staffing-mental-health-providers <https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/funding-staffing-mental-health-providers> [Accessed 8 Jan 2019]
Grove, J. (6 Jul 2018) Half of UK academics ‘suffer stress-linked mental health problems’. Times Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/half-uk-academics-suffer-stress-linked-mental-health-problems <https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/half-uk-academics-suffer-stress-linked-mental-health-problems> [Accessed 8 Jan 2019]
Haraway, D. (2016) Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press
Mattheys, K. (2017) Divided Lives: A local case study exploring austerity and inequalities in mental health (PhD). University of Durham. Retrieved from http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11966/ <http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11966/> [Accessed 8 Jan 2019]
Morgan, C., Webb, R.T., Carr, M.J., Kontopantelis, E., Green, J., Chew-Graham, C.A., Kapur, N., and Ashcroft, D.M. (2017). Incidence, clinical management, and mortality risk following self harm among children and adolescents: cohort study in primary care. BMJ 2017; 359:j4351
NHS (2018) Adult Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme. NHS England. Retrieved from: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/iapt/ <https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/iapt/> [Accessed 8 Jan 2019
Parr, H (2008) Mental health and social space: towards inclusionary geographies? Oxford: Blackwell
Philo, C. (2017). Less-than-human geographies. Political Geography 60, 256–258
Power, A., and Bartlett, R. (2018) Self-building safe havens in a post-service landscape: how adults with learning disabilities are reclaiming the welcoming communities agenda. Social and Cultural Geography 19(3), 336–356
Power, A., Bell, S. L., Kyle, R. G., and Andrews, G. J. (2018). ‘Hopeful adaptation’ in health geographies: Seeking health and wellbeing in times of adversity. Social Science & Medicine online. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.09.021 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.09.021>[Accessed 8 Jan 2019]
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