Globalization and Internationalization: the Implications on the Mental Health Field in Bhutan

Globalization and internationalization are terms growing in prevalence in the mental health professional field with increasing interactions between nations and cultures around the world. After a broad review, we define globalization as the continual process of interactions between cultures with the dominant culture influencing local cultures towards integration. Internationalization, on the other hand, we define as a partnership between cultures focused on mutual development and in which the local individuals and communities are empowered to make decisions about how best to meet their needs. In our analysis, we specifically examine the recently modernized country of Bhutan as a nation greatly influenced by both processes. More research is needed to further the knowledge within the internationalization literature and to ethically develop the mental health profession in Bhutan.