The mental health crisis is one of the most epidemic health issues that the world is facing right now. As per World Health Organization press release, one in four persons suffer from mental illness in their lifetime. Around 450 million are currently facing some kind of mental illness or disorder. This makes mental illness among the leading cause of poor health and other disabilities. In another report published by Our World in Data titled as Mental Health, it is estimated that 1.1 billion people are suffering from either mental disorder or substance abuse.
Among these, the most common disorder is anxiety disorder estimated to be four percent of the population globally. The picture is as grim in India as globally. As per the National Survey of India, the overall weighted prevalence for any mental morbidity was 13.7% lifetime and 10.6% current mental morbidity. As per media reports, 4.5 percent of the population is suffering from depression in India and another 38 million are suffering from the anxiety-related disorder. In other words, one in six people in India is suffering from mental illness which also reflects the global estimated trend. The burden of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders is estimated to increase by 23% in India between 2013 and 2025. (MHIN, 2016)
In an economy like ours, that has adopted a capitalist socioeconomic structure; the dominant explanation for mental illness is the biomedical understanding. Embedded in this understanding is the chemical imbalance of the brain in an individual focusing mainly on the neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. This discourse has been engulfed by the popular culture as well as in academics.
In recent times this discourse has come under challenge by authors like Brett J. Deacon, Dean McKay. In studies conducted by them in 2009 and 2015, they found no evidence about the effectiveness of the biomedical model. “Although drug use (like all rewarding experiences) affects the brain in predictable ways, this observation is insufficient to classify addiction as a “brain disease.”
David Mathew’s biomedical explanation potentially provide illuminating insight for specific cases of poor mental health, however it is not sufficient. There exist significant social patterns that should not allow reducing mental health into the biological interpretation.
It is important to understand the intimate relationship between mental health and social conditions that one lives in. The dominant narrative of mental health provides less space for social causes or social determinant, with the diagnosis starting and ending with the individual in an institutional setting reducing it to biological determinism. However, the social, economic and political structure should be looked as a major contributor to mental health.
As per Iain Ferguson, under neoliberal capitalism, an individual is encouraged or sometimes coerced to be responsible for every aspect of life, including health. It becomes an individual goal and a social and moral responsibility but also a site for biomedical intervention. The focus shifted from illness as a matter of fate to a matter of ongoing moral transformation.
The majority of populations are selling their labor at the cost of their health over the falling of a system over which they hardly have any control. The following narrative resonates with the ruling class to ensure compliance with its rule. “The alleviation of mental distress is only possible in a society without exploitation and oppression.” -Iain Ferguson.