Is it Possible to Eradicate Poverty without Attending to Mental Health? Listening to Migrant Workers in Chile through their Idioms of Distress

Abstract

Departing from the existing critique of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), regarding the absence of mental health dimensions in the formulation of its poverty related goal, this article explores the interrelation between poverty and mental health by examining experiences of emotional distress of Peruvian migrant workers in Chile. Through an analysis of the idioms that Peruvian migrants use to communicate their distress, this article proposes an understanding of Peruvian migrant's emotional suffering that attends to the broader unequal relations that migrant workers are subjected to in the host society. The analysis enables an understanding of their experiences of social exclusion and personal uprootedness, making visible the agency that the migrants display in giving meanings and coping with their emotional distress, most often outside the medical system. This article argues for the need to develop alternative and culturally sensitive approaches to mental health, in order to support the everyday struggles of the poor.

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