{"id":313557,"date":"2025-11-23T11:26:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/mental-disorders-and-the-early-years-of-the-world-health-organization-somatosphere\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T11:26:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:26:32","slug":"mental-disorders-and-the-early-years-of-the-world-health-organization-somatosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557","title":{"rendered":"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\">\n<p><strong><em>Mad by the Millions: Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization<\/em> by Harry Yi-Jui Wu (MIT Press: 2021)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Harry Yi-Jui Wu\u2019s <em>Mad by the Millions<\/em> traces the early efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to bring psychiatry into the domain of global public health. Drawing on extensive archival materials, Wu reconstructs how psychiatrists, epidemiologists, and social scientists collaborated to create standardized classifications, conduct multinational studies, and articulate a universal vision of mental health. He situates these initiatives in the postwar pursuit of \u201cworld citizenship\u201d and the belief that scientific progress could help secure peace. By following the WHO\u2019s International Social Psychiatry Project from its rise to its decline in the 1970s, the book shows how global mental health emerged as both an ambitious ideal and a contested practice.<\/p>\n<p>The book proceeds chronologically from the late 1940s to the 1970s, examining ideas, experts, and technologies. Early chapters describe how the rhetoric of world citizenship informed WHO\u2019s commitment to psychiatry. Later sections focus on diagnostic standardization, the recruitment of psychiatrists across regions, and the use of recording technologies for cross-cultural comparison. These initiatives culminated in the development of the psychiatric chapter of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), but also revealed tensions between universal claims and local differences. By the 1970s, methodological doubts and Cold War geopolitics had produced widespread disillusionment, foreshadowing debates that continue to shape global mental health.<\/p>\n<p>From a clinical perspective, Wu\u2019s discussion of \u201cincomplete decolonization\u201d is particularly compelling. He shows how psychiatrists from outside the West, including Taiwan\u2019s Tsung-Yi Lin, were brought into WHO projects yet remained constrained by colonial legacies and Geneva\u2019s authority. This resonates with Taiwan\u2019s later exclusion from the WHO, which rendered the island nearly invisible in the realm of global health (Shuchman, 2019). Yet exclusion did not result in silence. Taiwanese psychiatry pursued academic legitimacy through biomedical and epidemiological publications closely aligned with Western paradigms, as illustrated by large-scale initiatives such as the Taiwan Biobank (Feng et al., 2022). As a practicing psychiatrist, I see this as a form of self-colonization: an effort to secure recognition by adopting external standards, even at the cost of distancing psychiatry from local cultural realities.<\/p>\n<p>This dynamic continues to shape clinical and academic life. The ICD and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categories dominate diagnostic language, even when they fail to capture culturally embedded expressions of distress. Research priorities emphasize neurobiology and large-scale surveys, while qualitative and culturally sensitive approaches remain marginal. Patient voices rarely enter the international conversation, echoing the silences in Wu\u2019s archival record. Taiwan\u2019s case illustrates how global hierarchies may be internalized: exclusion from formal structures can paradoxically reinforce conformity to prevailing norms, while leaving questions of cultural responsiveness unresolved.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mad by the Millions<\/em> succeeds as both institutional history and provocation. Wu demonstrates how universalizing projects repeatedly obscured cultural difference, while also showing the contingencies that shaped psychiatry\u2019s globalization. The book\u2019s strength lies in its careful reconstruction of the WHO\u2019s ambitions and limitations, though its focus on experts necessarily sidelines patients and local clinicians. By illuminating the interplay of science, politics, and culture in the mid-twentieth century, Wu\u2019s study enriches our understanding of global mental health history and raises enduring questions about the balance between universality and cultural particularity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"504\" height=\"724\" src=\"https:\/\/somatosphere.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mad-by-the-Millions-book-cover-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2244\" style=\"width:329px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/somatosphere.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mad-by-the-Millions-book-cover-1.png 504w, https:\/\/somatosphere.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mad-by-the-Millions-book-cover-1-209x300.png 209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Feng, Yen-Chen Anne, Chia-Yen Chen, Tzu-Ting Chen, Po-Hsiu Kuo, Yi-Hua Hsu, Hwai-I Yang, et al. 2022. \u201cTaiwan Biobank: A Rich Biomedical Research Database of the Taiwanese Population.\u201d <em>Cell Genomics<\/em> 2 (11): 100197. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.xgen.2022.100197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.xgen.2022.100197<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shuchman, Miriam. 2019. \u201cHow Exclusion from the WHO Is Affecting Health Care in Taiwan.\u201d <em>Canadian Medical Association Journal<\/em> 191 (31): E872\u2013E873. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1503\/cmaj.109-5778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1503\/cmaj.109-5778<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mad by the Millions: Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization by Harry Yi-Jui Wu (MIT Press: 2021) Harry Yi-Jui Wu\u2019s Mad by the Millions traces the early efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to bring psychiatry into the domain of global public health. Drawing on extensive archival materials, Wu [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":313558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11767],"tags":[78298,5508,597,4850,7745,16360,2379,1003],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-313557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anthropology","tag-disorders","tag-early","tag-health","tag-mental","tag-organization","tag-somatosphere","tag-world","tag-years"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mad by the Millions: Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization by Harry Yi-Jui Wu (MIT Press: 2021) Harry Yi-Jui Wu\u2019s Mad by the Millions traces the early efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to bring psychiatry into the domain of global public health. Drawing on extensive archival materials, Wu [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-23T11:26:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"418\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-23T11:26:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\"},\"wordCount\":625,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Disorders\",\"early\",\"Health\",\"Mental\",\"Organization\",\"Somatosphere\",\"World\",\"Years\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Anthropology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\",\"name\":\"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-23T11:26:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":418},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Mad by the Millions: Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization by Harry Yi-Jui Wu (MIT Press: 2021) Harry Yi-Jui Wu\u2019s Mad by the Millions traces the early efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to bring psychiatry into the domain of global public health. Drawing on extensive archival materials, Wu [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-11-23T11:26:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":418,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere","datePublished":"2025-11-23T11:26:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557"},"wordCount":625,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg","keywords":["Disorders","early","Health","Mental","Organization","Somatosphere","World","Years"],"articleSection":["Anthropology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557","name":"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-23T11:26:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/madByTheMillions-800x418.jpg","width":800,"height":418},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=313557#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization\u2019 \u2013 Somatosphere"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/313558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313557"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=313557"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=313557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}