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Depression and mental health in neoliberal times: A critical analysis of policy and discourse

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  • Teghtsoonian, Katherine

Abstract

Depression has received increasing attention as a significant public health issue over the past ten years, both in Canada and elsewhere in the industrialized west. During the same period, many of the social and economic policies adopted by governments in these jurisdictions have reflected neoliberal goals and orientations. The purpose of this article is to explore the points of contact between these two features of contemporary social and political life in the industrialized west, using the Canadian province of British Columbia as an empirical site. My analysis draws on the Foucauldian literature on governmentality in presenting a close reading of provincial government documents concerned with depression and mental health literacy that have been produced since the election of the Liberal Party to office in British Columbia in 2001. This analysis identifies discourses of "responsibilization" circulating in these documents, within which individuals, families, communities and workplaces - rather than publicly-funded services - appear as key resources in responding to experiences of mental distress. It also points to a number of strategies visible in the documents that work to align the interests of individuals and their practitioners in pursuing particular approaches to treatment with a governing interest in reducing public spending on services and supports. The article concludes by identifying a number of resistive discourses and proposing further research in a range of empirical contexts within which they may be evident.

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  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:69:y:2009:i:1:p:28-35
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Guta, Adrian & Strike, Carol & Flicker, Sarah & J. Murray, Stuart & Upshur, Ross & Myers, Ted, 2014. "Governing through community-based research: Lessons from the Canadian HIV research sector," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 250-261.
    4. 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.
    5. O'Brien, Wendy, 2012. "The recovery imperative: A critical examination of mid-life women's recovery from depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 573-580.
    6. Moutasem A. Zakkar & Samantha B. Meyer & Craig R. Janes, 2021. "Evidence and politics of patient experience in Ontario: The perspective of healthcare providers and administrators," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1189-1206, July.
    7. Di Ruggiero, Erica & Cohen, Joanna E. & Cole, Donald C. & Forman, Lisa, 2015. "Competing conceptualizations of decent work at the intersection of health, social and economic discourses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 120-127.
    8. Younsook Yeo, 2017. "Healthcare inequality issues among immigrant elders after neoliberal welfare reform: empirical findings from the United States," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(5), pages 547-565, June.

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