47th ANNUAL MEETING

This subtheme explores how a sense of belonging and social well-being is shaped and at times challenged by family ties, community networks, national & immigration policies, and global systems. We invite submissions that examine stigma, discrimination, task-sharing approaches, and workforce development (including task shifting and task sharing) in global mental health. We especially welcome work that highlights culturally grounded strategies to improve access, fairness, and connection for underserved groups across diverse settings.

Building on cultural family therapy models, this subtheme explores intergenerational narratives, culturally grounded caregiving practices, and community-based interventions that support resilience among immigrant, refugee, and transnational families. We especially welcome work focused on motherhood, infant attachment, elder care, and the impact of structural and systemic challenges (e.g., acculturation stress).

How are extraordinary experiences (such as psychotic symptoms, spiritual visions, or culturally specific idioms of distress) interpreted, managed, and integrated across diverse cultural and clinical contexts? Submissions that consider how resilience and resistance emerge in response to structural adversity, marginalization, and biomedical dominance–as well submissions that examine community-driven healing, spiritual frameworks, and culturally attuned responses that reframe mental suffering as both personal and political–are welcome.

What happens when migration intersects with altered states of consciousness and diverse healing traditions? We seek contributions that examine how individuals and communities navigate inner transformation through culturally meaningful practices, focused on trauma recovery and indigenous and spiritual healing.  Submissions may also examine experiences with altered states of consciousness, including but not limited to psychedelic-assisted therapies, within culturally grounded care.

We invite studies of approaches and tools that highlight assessment and understanding of culturally specific illness and wellness. Examples may include  the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC), the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview, Narrative Medicine, the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), or other innovations.

As AI and the digital technologies rapidly reshape mental health care, how must cultural psychiatry respond to changing notions of presence, personhood, human connection, and care? We welcome submissions exploring digital mental health interventions, virtual and hybrid identities, and the psychosocial impact of hyperconnectivity in diverse cultural contexts.