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“I'm running my depression:” Self-management of depression in neoliberal Australia

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  • Brijnath, Bianca
  • Antoniades, Josefine

Abstract

The current study examines how the neoliberal imperative to self-manage has been taken up by patients, focusing specifically on Indian-Australians and Anglo-Australians living with depression in Australia. We use Nikolas Rose's work on governmentality and neoliberalism to theorise our study and begin by explicating the links between self-management, neoliberalism and the Australian mental health system. Using qualitative methods, comprising 58 in-depth interviews, conducted between May 2012 and May 2013, we argue that participants practices of self-management included reduced use of healthcare services, self-medication and self-labour. Such practices occurred over time, informed by unsatisfactory interactions with the health system, participants confidence in their own agency, and capacity to craft therapeutic strategies. We argue that as patients absorbed and enacted neoliberal norms, a disconnect was created between the policy rhetoric of self-management, its operationalisation in the health system and patient understandings and practices of self-management. Such a disconnect, in turn, fosters conditions for risky health practices and poor health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Brijnath, Bianca & Antoniades, Josefine, 2016. "“I'm running my depression:” Self-management of depression in neoliberal Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:152:y:2016:i:c:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.022
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Teghtsoonian, Katherine, 2009. "Depression and mental health in neoliberal times: A critical analysis of policy and discourse," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 28-35, July.
    2. Crawshaw, Paul, 2012. "Governing at a distance: Social marketing and the (bio) politics of responsibility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 200-207.
    3. Fullagar, Simone & O'Brien, Wendy, 2014. "Social recovery and the move beyond deficit models of depression: A feminist analysis of mid-life women's self-care practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 116-124.
    4. Bianca Brijnath & Josefine Antoniades & Jon Adams, 2015. "Investigating Patient Perspectives on Medical Returns and Buying Medicines Online in Two Communities in Melbourne, Australia: Results from a Qualitative Study," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 8(2), pages 229-238, April.
    5. Gattuso, Suzy & Fullagar, Simone & Young, Ilena, 2005. "Speaking of women's 'nameless misery': The everyday construction of depression in Australian women's magazines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1640-1648, October.
    6. Peacock, Marian & Bissell, Paul & Owen, Jenny, 2014. "Dependency denied: Health inequalities in the neo-liberal era," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 173-180.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan, 2017. "Down to Earth: Planetary Health and Biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, August.

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