Histoires de la santé mentale globale

Histories of Global Mental Health 

Conference

 
June 25-26, 2026 | Montreal, Canada

DAY 1
8-9 Coffee & Greetings

9:00 Welcome & Introduction to Histories of Global Mental Health (HGMH)

9:30 KEYNOTE PANEL DISCUSSION: Critical Perspectives on Global Mental Health
Facilitator: Mariano Ruperthuz PhD Psychology (University of Chile) & PhD History (University of Santiago de Chile)
Panelists:

Nafissa Ismail, PhD
Director – LIFE Research Institute, University of Ottawa

 Laurence Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC
Distinguished James McGill Professor & Director of the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University
Thirusha Naidu, MClin Psych, PhD

CRC Equity and Social Justice in Global Medical Education, University of Ottawa
Harry Yi-Jui Wu, MD, DPhil
Associate Professor of Medical Humanities & Social Medicine, National Cheng Kung University

11:30 Lunch Break
(not included with registration)

13:00 GLOBAL NORTH EXPORTING PSYCHIATRY

Meyerian Mental Hygiene and Its Transnational Migrations North
Alexander Myrick, University of Ottawa (Canada)

Recursive Gatekeeping: Technical Disputes and Professional Quarrels between Clinical Psychologists and Psychiatrists under the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, 1909-1939
Catriel Fierro, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain)

From Washington to Santiago: The Expansion of the Mental Hygiene Movement
in Latin America (1908-1950)
Mariano Ruperthuz, Buenos Aires & International Psychoanalytic Associations

The Freudian School of Paris and the Making of a New Kind of Psychoanalysis (1964-1980)
Alejandro Dagfal, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)

15:00 Coffee/Tea & Intellectual Exchange

15:30 GLOBAL SOUTH RESPONDING TO PSYCHIATRY
Social Medicine, Psychiatry, and Activism During the Chilean Road to Socialism, 1970-1973: Historical Notes on Global Mental Health Today
Gabriel Abarca-Brown, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

Psychiatrists and Psychiatry: The Making of Modern Indian Psychiatry in Independent India
Shilpi Rajpal, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

Mental Health in Brazil and Global Mental Health
Cristiana Facchinetti, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Brazil)

5-7pm Cinq à Sept (Happy Hour) For Presenters & Organizers
 

DAY 2
8-9 Coffee/Tea & Intellectual Exchange

9:00 RETHINKING EFFECTS OF PSYCHIATRY IN OPPRESSIVE CONTEXTS
African Pharmakon: The Asylum as Shrine from Slavery to the Return
Nana Osei Quarshie, Yale University (USA)

Healthcare and Indian Indentureship in Trinidad, 1845-1921
Karishma Nanhu, National Trust, Preservation and Research Office (Trinidad and Tobago)

Resilience in the Face of Trauma: a Historical Reappraisal of Mental Health Experiences
in Collapsed Economies and Protracted Wars in the Middle East
Joelle Abi-Rached, American University (Lebanon) and Harvard University (USA)

10:30 Coffee/Tea & Intellectual Exchange

11:00 BIG GLOBAL PICTURES FROM HISTORIANS
Colonialism and Decolonisation in Histories of Global Mental Health
Ana Antic, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Beck’s Cognitive Behavior Therapy Globally
Rachael Rosner, Independent Scholar (USA)
Reconsidering the Machine Zone: Technologies of Addiction, Habituation, and Disorientation in Digital Mental Health
Luke Stark, Western University (Canada)

12:30 Lunch Break
(not included with registration) 

14:00 ACTIVATING HISTORY FOR GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH
Improving Theoretical Perspectives in Mental Health and Well-being from Global South Ideas: the Case of Brazilian Teachers
Ana Luiza de França Sá, Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Brasília- IFB (Brasil)
Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile)

Mental Health Practices and Traditional Ecological Knowledges
Wade Pickren, Independent (USA)

15:00 CLOSING REMARKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 

Conference Co-Sponsors:
Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Department of Global & Public Health, McGill University
Social Studies of Medicine Department, McGill University
Jason A. Hannah Chair in History of Medicine, University of Ottawa
 

Conference Co-Chairs:
Rachael Rosner & Susan Lamb
Program Committee:
Rachael Rosner
Suzanne Hollman
Susan Lamb
Wade Pickren
 

Address of Conference (all sessions): 4333 Ch. de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC H3T 1E4
Registration: https://www.mcgill.ca/tcpsych/training/2026-special-event (lunch not included)
Contact: Susan Lamb (mobile 001-514-576-3382)