PLOS Mental Health: Elevating the voices of lived experience to combat structural barriers and improve mental health globally

Our mental well-being is shaped by a host of interacting intrinsic and socio-political realities that are specific to us.Although we can relate to and empathize with others to varying degrees depending on our own understanding and experiences, we can only truly understand someone's mental health and its causes, by listening to, and learning from them.The voice of lived experience is finally beginning to shape mental health research, treatments and policies.This influence is long overdue, but currently, efforts to incorporate lived experience perspectives are inconsistent.In 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that 1 in 8 people worldwide live with a mental health condition [1].This is likely to have been an underestimation for a myriad of reasons-and the same myriad of reasons may also account for the underrepresentation of diverse lived experience voices in the field as a whole.Over the last decade or so, there has been an increase in the explicit encouragement of incorporating the lived experience perspective into all facets of the mental health field.For instance, the United Nations' Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) 3, which is focused on good health and well-being [2], emphasizes the need for inclusive mental health policies and services that consider the perspectives and experiences of people with mental health conditions.The WHO has also been spearheading initiatives that are aimed at emphasizing the importance of involving people with mental health conditions in the development and implementation of mental health policies and services.The recent World Mental Health report [1] specifically discusses empowering those with lived experience and placing them as key stakeholders in transforming mental health care.Listening to those with lived experience will help us to fully understand both the vast and nuanced differences in experiences of individuals and communities worldwide.In particular, lived experience draws our attention to the realities and pains created by our social realities; poverty, political landscapes, violence, war, famine, racism and the colonial histories.Such factors demand that we engage in deep listening, so that mental health support can be developed to respond to both causes and consequences of social and structural determinants.It is only through the honouring of lived experience that we can challenge the status quo and break down the structural barriers that are preventing far too many from accessing the mental health care that they need.From accessing their basic human rights.We need to incorporate their perspectives on the same level and with the same enthusiasm held for researchers and professionals.We must also react, as a priority, to the causes of discrepancies in access to mental healthcare and societal attitudes globally in order to improve well-being and access to treatments, as well as reduce stigma.Achieving this not only requires listening to the lived experience