Felipe Szabzon

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Felipe Szabzon is a postdoctoral fellow of the “Covid-19 and mental health” project at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies (ENGEROM) of the University of Copenhagen. He is also a research associate of the Section of Psychiatric Epidemiology of the São Paulo Medical School from the University of São Paulo (NEP-FMUSP) and a Permanent Researcher at the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). He holds a double PhD degree in Dynamics of Health and Social Welfare from the National School of Public Health (Portugal) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS – France); an MSc in Public Health (USP) and a bachelor’s in clinical psychology (PUC-SP). He has previous experience working at the National Mental Health Programme at the Portuguese Ministry of Health. His main interests rely upon the analysis of mental health policy as well as on global mental health practices and how these imply in subjective experiences lived by people in contexts of adversity and social exclusion. He has also co-founded the Platform for Social Research in Mental Health in Latin America (PLASMA).

Current research

My current research investigates how vulnerable communities of Latin American Cities have experienced the pandemic of the COVID-19. The study will focus on how the contingencies derived from the spread of the virus, the forms of management of the pandemic and the sociocultural contexts were perceived and handled in terms of mental health problems. The study will be undertaken in two of the region's largest cities, São Paulo, in Brazil, and Bogotá, in Colombia. In São Paulo, the study will focus on the results of participatory-action research that explored how subjective experiences were perceived and cared for in a community situated on the outskirts of the city, in a neighbourhood marked by strong socioeconomic adversities and a long history of social mobilization. In Colombia, an ethnographic inquiry will investigate how members of a community in the periphery of Bogotá, inhabited by many displaced persons who moved from rural to urban areas due to violent conflict in the countryside, have perceived, conceptualized and handled the mental health impacts posed by the pandemic. On the one hand, the project will explore psychological experiences lived by persons facing extreme circumstances of adversity and distress. On the other hand, it will also problematize the framing of these experiences through the universalistic narratives offered by ‘psy disciplines’ that frequently focus on the universality of psychological problems and mental health outcomes at individual and subjective levels.

Selected publications

1. Published

   Feeling like a citizen: Hope amid social exclusion in São Paulo during the Covid-19 pandemics

   Roy, I., Coelho, V. S. P. & Szabzon, Felipe, 23 Nov 2022, In: Citizenship Studies. 26, 8, p. 1135-1155

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

2. Published

   Suspension of social welfare services and mental health outcomes for women during the COVID-19 pandemic in a peripheral neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil

   Bruhn, L. & Szabzon, Felipe, 15 Sep 2022, In: Frontiers in Psychiatry. 13

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

3. (Re) thinking urban mental health from the periphery of São Paulo in times of the COVID-19 pandemic

   Brown, C. A., Szabzon, Felipe, Bruhn, L., Cabrini, D. R., Miranda, E., Gnoatto, J., Albertin, P. D. V., Santana, G. L. & Andrade, L. H., 2022, In: International Review of Psychiatry. 34, 1, p. 78-88

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

4. Beyond command and control: A rapid review of meaningful community-engaged responses to COVID-19

   Loewenson, R., Colvin, C. J., Szabzon, Felipe, Das, S., Khanna, R., Coelho, V. S. P., Gansane, Z., Yao, S., Asibu, W. D., Rome, N. & Nolan, E., 2 Sep 2021, In: Global Public Health. 16, 8-9, p. 1439-1453

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

5. Co-production? We do community participation: Experiences and perspectives in the context of the COVID-19 crisis from Latin America

   Szabzon, Felipe & Montenegro, C. R., 24 May 2021, COVID-19 and Co-production in Health and Social Care Research, Policy, and Practice: The Challenges and Necessity of Co-production. Beresford, P., Farr, M. & Hickey, G. (eds.). Bristol: Policy Press, Vol. 1. p. 69-77

   Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review

6. Challenges for psychosocial rehabilitation services in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area: A qualitative approach

   Szabzon, Felipe, Perelman, J. & Dias, S., 19 Jul 2019, In: Health & Social Care in the Community. 27, 4, p. 428-437

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review