Beyond Adaptation: Transforming Mental Health through a Psycho-Political Program

In most societies, mental health systems are primarily designed to help individuals adapt to existing structures, often reinforcing family and workplace dynamics that perpetuate exploitation and oppression. These systems focus on maintaining normalcy rather than fostering radical societal or personal transformation. This realisation led me to question how lived experience (Perezhivanie)—the interplay between personal and social development—can be harnessed not only to address mental health issues but also to drive deeper societal change. I began to explore how we might better understand that "the personal is political," moving beyond individualistic approaches to recognise the social and political roots of suffering.

Reflecting on my experiences in leftist groups, I observed that even disciplined revolutionary movements could become dehumanising, turning individuals into alienated political machines. Similarly, my participation in psychoanalytic group therapies revealed a disconnection, where participants were often viewed more as cases to analyse than as people to understand. However, my involvement in women’s and queer circles uncovered a different kind of knowledge—one rich with the potential to foster genuine connections, although this deeper solidarity required both education and discipline to thrive.

In response to these insights, I collaborated to develop a psycho-political programme that integrates the lessons I gained from these groups: discipline and strategy, analysis and self-reflection, and solidarity and sumud (صمود)—the Palestinian concept of resilience. In this paper, I wish to discuss this programme, which transcends conventional mental health care by coherently understanding Perezhivanie and promoting collective reflection. Ultimately, I argue that the path forward lies not in reforming existing mental health systems but in dismantling them to create new frameworks that prioritise collective solidarity and political action. Only by embracing this radical shift can we genuinely address the roots of suffering and cultivate transformative change.