During my interview on the Slate podcast “Hear Me Out” my interviewer, Celeste Headlee, was curious about my argument that social justice could be a form of mental health treatment. I was untested in these waters. I said that no, I don’t think of social justice as a form of mental health treatment. However, as I think about it more, I think it is! Well, let me qualify that. Treatment is not the right word.

The thought that we need to “treat” mental illness is problematic. Maybe we should “alleviate” it. And that includes engaging in social justice work when the cause of mental health challenges is injustice.

Using the word “alleviate” doesn’t just address the fact that mental illnesses can’t be cured but must receive ongoing treatment, but also alludes to the reality that alleviating something requires changing the situation or the atmosphere. (I talk more about this in my book Christians for a Free Palestine–which is more holistic than you might expect since it’s a holistic approach to global flourishing.)

One of my friends in Palestine is a mental health practitioner. He has shared with me very little about his important research since he’s hoping to publish it, but he shares how Gaza is different from the West Bank and requires different psychological approaches. The limits of Western psychotherapeutic models should be obvious in such a situation. Less war and less occupation would undoubtedly also decrease mental health crises and conditions. This is one of many illustrations of the fact that social justice and mental health are intersecting and that social justice efforts can alleviate poor mental health.