Dr. Khameer Kidia
Dr. Khameer Kidia
Division of Global Health Equity and Hospital Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Division of Global Health Equity and Hospital Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Book Talk and Discussion: “Empire of Madness: Reimagining Western Mental Healthcare For Everyone”
Thursday, March 5th, 3 pm
Seigle Hall L003
Co-Sponsored by The Department of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; Public Health and Society; Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity; and the Center for the Humanities
"In Empire of Madness, Dr. Khameer Kidia re-evaluates the Western approach to mental health, which medicates symptoms instead of changing the structures that harm the human psyche...Kidia highlights the limitations of the Western mental health model by reporting from the front lines of mental health crises at home, in the clinic, and during a decade of fieldwork...The book asks: How do history, culture, and politics shape mental distress? Are hoarding and burnout medical diagnoses or social problems?...Kidia invites us to reimagine mental health as a global idea where our wellbeing is mutual and everyone’s voice—patients, caregivers, and healthcare workers alike—matters."
Khameer Kidia is a writer, physician, and anthropologist at Harvard Medical School and University of Zimbabwe. A Rhodes Scholar and 2023 New America Fellow, Kidia has worked on global mental health research, practice, and advocacy for the last decade. His writing has been published in New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Psychiatry, The New York Times, Slate, Yale Review, and Los Angeles Review of Books. Born in Zimbabwe, Kidia lives between Harare and Washington, D.C.