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Paper short abstract:

Mental health and the stigma associated with it has always influenced both social and political dynamics in the MENA region. My research looks how psychiatry has been abused by political elites to limit and repress political and social participation in the area.

Paper long abstract:

The interconnection between social, political and medical systems have been documented in all areas of the world: in particular, the political abuse of psychiatry is a phenomenon that has taken many forms throughout the world. Moreover in some regions, such as in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa), discourse on mental illness is still surrounded by stigma and outdated beliefs, especially in rural areas particularly disconnected from large urban centres.

My research deals with current manifestations of the political abuse of psychiatry in North Africa, where, a variety of factors ranging from the effects of the colonial mental health infrastructure and the instability of the political system has lead to the abuse of psychiatry as a medical science and a set of institutions.

In my presentation I will focus on a specific aspect of my research project, the use of mental health as a tool in the hands of the political elite to discourage, segregate and repress members of the opposition. This is the direct consequence of coercive political elite and an underdeveloped mental health system, which allows for the manipulation of personnel and institutions deeply impacting the political identity of activists and those surrounding them. Of course my research does not imply that the mental health systems analysed are corrupt as a whole. Rather, I will show that in a region where mental illness can lead to isolation from society, psychiatry - its institutions and diagnoses - is used as an instrument for the delegitimization of political activism.