Dr. Cristian Montenegro

Biography

Cristian Montenegro is a Senior Lecturer in Critical Global Health at King's College London. His research critically examines the shifting values in mental health policy at local and international levels, focusing on the perspectives of service users, policymakers, caregivers, and service providers. He has contributed to ongoing debates surrounding the evolving role of service users in mental health science and policy, particularly in the context of the Global South. His work addresses how interlocked shifts challenge traditional understandings of mental pathology and the treatment institutions implicated in the global circulation of health practices, primarily based in the Global North. Cristian's research interests include social, cultural, and political aspects of mental health policy, mental health, human rights, democracy, health social movements in the Global South, and social theory in healthcare research. He has utilized ethnography, oral history, in-depth interviews, and documentary analysis in his studies, exploring the emergence of informal healthcare responses to police violence in protest contexts. He leads a major international project titled 'Transitions: Ethics and Politics of Psychiatric Deinstitutionalization in South America' funded by the Wellcome Trust, examining psychiatric reform in Chile and Brazil.

Research Interests

Experience

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