A History of Mental Health and Human Rights, with Tiago Pires Marques
The concept of ‘mental health’ emerged in the 20th century, gaining prominence when it came to be explicitly linked to the notion of human dignity within the UN, the WHO and other international institutions. ‘The association with human rights came later,’ explains Tiago Pires Marques. In this interview, the CHAM researcher traces the history of the concept and discusses how psychological distress is viewed by different cultures, the changes over recent decades, and the most common stereotypes and stigmas. He also highlights the contributions of Anti-Psychiatry and Democratic Psychiatry to the profound critiques of the asylum logic, based on reflections on the dignity of people with mental health conditions or disorders. The interview is conducted by José Alberto Catalão.
Tiago Pires Marques is a senior researcher at CHAM, working on science, health and power. He holds a PhD in History from the European University Institute and is the author of numerous publications in the fields of the history of science and technology, philosophy, ethics and religion. As FCT Principal Investigator for the project ‘Psychological Suffering and Human Rights’, he coordinated a team focused on the co-production of knowledge between scientific actors, policy-makers and activists. He was part of the REMEMBER project team – ‘Experiences of Older LGBTQ People in Democratic Portugal (1974–2020)’. Since 2025, he has been part of the EcoGrief project team, ‘Ultrasounds of Grief: Assessing Intangible Loss and Climate Anxiety in Rural Portugal’. He was editor of the Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais and founder of ‘Mad in Portugal’, a platform dedicated to disseminating critical perspectives on mental health and psychiatric practices.
In the next episode, Catarina Simões discusses the History of Knowledge in the ‘A Brief Introduction to…’ segment.
The theme tune for ‘CHAM Talks, a podcast for listening to science’ uses ‘Bike Sharing To Paradise’ by Dan Bordan (copyright-free).
COORDINATION
Isabel Araújo Branco (CHAM)
Organization
CHAM / NOVA FCSH
