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This article suggests links between the construction of national identities in Latin America, anomie and mental health. Several issues in the process of national identification, including ambivalent independence movements, segregation and the emulation of Spanish social practices, have prevented the inclusion of all segments of the population into collective political projects. Due to exclusion and inequality, there is a persistent condition of anomie, in which social rules become ineffective to regulate the social behaviour of individuals. Dependency and in-group derogation are also counted among the effects of the dysfunctional processes of national identification. Given the influence of social determinants on the health of the population, anomie is considered an important cause of violence and psychosocial problems. The links between anomie and mental health call for a wider perspective to promote mental health and prevent violence and illness. Social participation, equity and citizenship are core themes within this broader perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the concept of anomie for understanding public mental-health issues and constructing strategies aimed at promoting health and preventing disease. Studying anomie involves many definitions and approaches; this article conceptualises anomie as dérréglement or derangement and as a total social fact as its effects and consequences are pervasive across all areas of human experience. The article suggests the pertinence of the concept to public health based on several authors' observations depicting Latin-America as being a set of anomic societies and Colombia as the extreme case. Current definitions of mental health in positive terms (not just as being the absence of mental illness) validate the need for considering anomie as an indicator of public mental health. The article proposes that if anomie expresses itself through rules as basic social structure components, then such rules should also be considered as the point of intervention in promoting mental health.