Psychopolitics in the twenty first century

Abstract

This special issue was inspired by our long standing interest in Sedgwick's work and our own – individual and collective – struggle with the questions he posed for a left-inspired politics of mental health. Specifically, it arose out of a national conference we collectively organized in June 2015 at Liverpool Hope University - PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century: Peter Sedgwick and radical movements in mental health. We do not necessarily agree, even amongst ourselves, about what constitutes his enduring legacy for a mental health politics. However, we do share the belief that his work offers a crucial starting point for discussion and debate. In the rest of this editorial we summarise the contents of this issue, and then outline some key areas that we think require further attention