Political Pills: Psychopharmaceuticals and Neoliberalism as Mutually Supporting

Davies, James

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44911-1_8

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Second, on the societal level, psychiatrization may risk to further narrow the range of what is perceived as "normal, " encourage ineffective and short-term medical interventions, prompt individuals to cope with social problems and impede the finding of adequate long-term solutions (67,134,135). Such solutions would be situated rather in the realm of politics, where psychiatrization might otherwise be contributing to disguising failed policies.…”

Section: Relevance and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatrization of Society: A Conceptual Framework and Call for Transdisciplinary Research

Beeker¹,

Mills

Bhugra

et al. 2021

Front. Psychiatry

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Purpose: Worldwide, there have been consistently high or even rising incidences of diagnosed mental disorders and increasing mental healthcare service utilization over the last decades, causing a growing burden for healthcare systems and societies. While more individuals than ever are being diagnosed and treated as mentally ill, psychiatric knowledge, and practices affect the lives of a rising number of people, gain importance in society as a whole and shape more and more areas of life. This process can be described as the progressing psychiatrization of society.Methods: This article is a conceptual paper, focusing on theoretical considerations and theory development. As a starting point for further research, we suggest a basic model of psychiatrization, taking into account its main sub-processes as well as its major top-down and bottom-up drivers.Results: Psychiatrization is highly complex, diverse, and global. It involves various protagonists and its effects are potentially harmful to individuals, to societies and to public healthcare. To better understand, prevent or manage its negative aspects, there is a need for transdisciplinary research, that empirically assesses causes, mechanisms, and effects of psychiatrization.Conclusion: Although psychiatrization has highly ambivalent effects, its relevance mainly derives from its risks: While individuals with minor disturbances of well-being might be subjected to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, psychiatrization could also result in undermining mental healthcare provision for the most severely ill by promoting the adaption of services to the needs and desires of the rather mild cases. On a societal level, psychiatrization might boost medical interventions which incite individual coping with social problems, instead of encouraging long-term political solutions.

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Section: Relevance and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatrization of Society: A Conceptual Framework and Call for Transdisciplinary Research

Beeker¹,

Mills

Bhugra

et al. 2021

Front. Psychiatry

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show abstract

“…Perhaps out of necessity (in order to gain access to leading biomedical journals), it tells a comfortable tale of physicians being powerful beings-in the words of the author, "anointed as agents of social control who deploy special powers to rescue, heal, and take command". The JAMA paper elides even superficial discussions of social dominance orientation, authoritarianism, elitism, power, and neoliberalism within Western medicine [114][115][116], or the ways in which it has contributed to disparities [117]. It leaves out the storied reasons-some elegantly outlined by Dr Colon-that narrative medicine became a necessity in the first place.…”

Section: Narrative Neoliberalism Ncds-beyond Narrow Clinical Confinesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Narrative Medicine Meets Planetary Health: Mindsets Matter in the Anthropocene

Prescott

Logan²

2019

Challenges

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The emerging concept of planetary health—defined as the interdependent vitality of all natural and anthropogenic ecosystems (social, political, and otherwise)—emphasizes that the health of human civilization is intricately connected to the health of natural systems within the Earth’s biosphere. In the clinical setting, narrative medicine underscores the importance of absorbing, reflecting upon, and responding to the narratives—the stories—conveyed by patients. Education and interventions using the tenets of narrative medicine have demonstrated value to both patient and provider. Given the grand interconnected challenges of our time—compounded by misinformation and quasi-scientific narratives propagated by the ideology of neoliberalism—we argue that the principles and practice of narrative medicine can be applied on a larger scale, one with planetary health in mind. The role of beliefs, expectations, and agency—mindsets—in the link between narrative and planetary health are emphasized. We use a story of our own to demonstrate that the biological buffering capacity in response to a fast-food meal does not sit on a level socioeconomic playing field. Patient, community, and global health narratives are melding with powerful narratives set by commercial entities. The success of planetary health as a new concept will be strengthened by attention to the ways in which storytelling can influence positive change. No less important is an understanding of the ways in which stories contribute to what ails person, place, and planet.

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“…Neoliberalism provides an abundance of consumer choices-including the ultraprocessed foods, beverages, tobacco, etc., that act as drivers of NCDs-and at the same time provides the "freedom" of allowing the individual to be the primary holder of preventive strategies (i.e., solely responsible for lifestyle) for one's own health. Moreover, the ideology provides the commercially available remedies which one (and at the larger scale, society) might purchase in the hopes of offsetting the commercial drivers of NCDs [42][43][44].…”

Section: Anthropocene Syndromementioning

confidence: 99%

Down to Earth: Planetary Health and Biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch

Prescott

Logan

2017

Challenges

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Advances in science have illuminated the role of the "ecological theatre"-the total living environment-in human health. In a rapidly changing epoch known as the anthropocene, microbiome science is identifying functional connections between all life, both seen and unseen. Rather than an easily identifiable era appearing in rock strata, the anthropocene is more of a diagnostic syndrome, a set of signs and symptoms including climate change, gross biodiversity losses, environmental degradation, and an epidemic of non-communicable diseases. The syndrome is intertwined with politics, economics, public policies (or lack thereof), social values, and a global push of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods and beverages. The healing of anthropocene syndrome is the grand challenge of humanity. Expanding on the "Mars Can Wait" argument of Geoffrey Goodman, et al., we focus on the urgency with which health promotion must be prioritized here on Earth. We revive Jonas Salk's biophilosophy: a call to action for collaboration between biologists, humanists, and scholars of all stripes. From this perspective, lines of distinction between personal, public, and planetary health are removed. We also describe the symbiocene: the possibility of a new epoch in which mutualism will be considered imperative. If society asks the right questions, a transition to the symbiocene is possible; the "stratigraphical" mark of the new epoch will be found in a repudiation of authoritarianism, and the promotion of empathy, cultural competency, emotional intelligence, and commitment to optimism, tolerance, and the facilitation of the WHO definition of health, i.e., the fulfillment of human potential.

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Political Pills: Psychopharmaceuticals and Neoliberalism as Mutually Supporting

Cited by 15 publications

References 66 publications

Psychiatrization of Society: A Conceptual Framework and Call for Transdisciplinary Research

Psychiatrization of Society: A Conceptual Framework and Call for Transdisciplinary Research

Narrative Medicine Meets Planetary Health: Mindsets Matter in the Anthropocene

Down to Earth: Planetary Health and Biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch

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