A/HRC/41/34 unequal life chances. Violence and discrimination are themselves inextricably linked; many people worldwide have their mental health placed at risk as a result of avoidable forms of violence or socially normalized discriminatory practices. Research on violence and mental health has too often focused on diagnostic criteria, with less consideration given to determinants such as poverty, experiences of trauma and violence, including adverse childhood experiences.36 87. Cultural violence refers to behaviours and norms in societies that are used to legitimize violence. These forms of violence can be interdependent and interrelated in terms of cause and effect, including gender-based violence, family violence, racism, hate crimes, xenophobic nationalism, State violence, police violence and armed conflict, all of which are indicators and determinants of mental well-being. Initiatives to protect “traditional family values” over the rights of individuals prioritize and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and outdated hierarchical family roles in family relations, and may contribute to tolerance of and the condoning of discrimination and violence. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 88. The recognition of mental health as a global health imperative, including within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is welcome progress. With mental health emerging from the shadows, it is now critical to reach agreement on how to invest in the mental health and well-being of individuals and populations. 89. Good mental health and well-being cannot be defined by the absence of a mental health condition, but rather must be defined by the social, psychosocial, political, economic and physical environment that enables individuals and populations to live a life of dignity, with full enjoyment of their rights and in the equitable pursuit of their potential. This requires the creation of enabling environments that value both social connection and respect through non-violent and healthy relationships at the individual and societal levels throughout life. 90. To effectively promote mental health, discrimination should be eliminated both within and beyond mental health-care settings. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that the field of mental health remains, at the global level, hostage to discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and that this hinders the attempts of many progressive stakeholders to effectively promote mental health. 91. Mental health services suffer from an excessive focus on outdated approaches through which the majority of resources are allocated to individual treatment for diagnosed mental health conditions, including psychotropic medications and institutional care. This global imbalance continues to reinforce an equity, evidence and implementation gap. 92. Global trends indicate a proliferation of policies and practices in which universal human rights principles are actively undermined or human rights are applied in a selective way. These trends include prioritizing punitive policies and legislation to address different social problems (such as drug use), discriminating by law and in practice against certain populations (such as refugees and migrants, young people and women), political decision-making that reduces social support and increases inequalities, and legislative action that shrinks the participatory space for civil society. There is an intentional divide in how these broader global trends affect the mental health and well-being of societies: xenophobia, “traditional family values” and other forms of discrimination actively erode social cohesion, affecting everyone. 93. The lack of political will to invest holistically in mental health and well-being fuels this cycle of discrimination, inequality, social exclusion and violence. Those who are most in need of action that promotes their health – persons with psychosocial, 36 See Mohit Varshney and others, “Violence and mental illness: what is the true story?” in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, vol. 70, No. 3 (2016), pp. 223–225. 17