Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis

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In countries where we have seen a doubling in psychiatric medicine used to treat mental illness we have also seen a doubling in many side-effects and health problems related to these medicines. Medicines are not necessarily the solution. Yet we are giving them out in greater numbers. While general medicine has certainly advanced over the last few decades, clinical psychology has travelled a deeply distressing trajectory. As Marx thought of religion, the role of the mental health sector is now to sedate, to distract from distress and to prevent political action, all in the interests of our neo-liberal economy. Following the publication of his book, Sedated, How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis, James Davies explains. PDF / EPUB File Name: SedatedHow_Modern_Capitalism_Created_our_Mental_Health_Crisis_-_James_Davies.pdf, SedatedHow_Modern_Capitalism_Created_our_Mental_Health_Crisis_-_James_Davies.epub Misalnya saja pada bagian pertama yg diberi tajuk "The New Opium." Menerangkan kalau sejak zaman Margaret Thatcher jadi PM lalu berteman dengan Ronal Reagan (presiden AS ke-40) & cukup dekat dengan Milton Friedman (ekonom), nyatanya memang UK dibuat condong pada paham "free-market." Davies bilang kalau industri farmasi nggak main-main kalau ambil profit. Dengan Thatcher memberi izin lebih leluasa buat mereka, ya tentu ada harga obat-obatan yg gila-gilaan. Marx argued that religion, by teaching that our suffering in this life would be rewarded in the next, was instructing people, and usually the most disadvantaged people, to accept and endure rather than to fight and reform the harmful social realities oppressing them. As religion numbed the distress that would otherwise motivate political action, he referred to it as ‘the opium of the people’ – a cultural sedative powerful enough to disable the impulse for social reform.

Dr James Davies publishes new book “Sedated: How Modern

James Davies sendiri ternyata seorang psikiater berbasis di UK. Sedated adalah buku yang ia susun untuk mengkritisi bagaimana pemerintah UK malah memperparah kondisi mental manusia di sana. Muchas personas toman antidepresivos por la simple razón de que hay poquísimas alternativas disponibles. Nuestros servicios públicos carecen de alternativas psicosociales, como la terapia, por lo que los fármacos se convierten en la intervención más rápida y barata (aunque menos eficaz) en salud mental". Many people believe that they wish to be more entitled and seek a more materialistic world of possession and privileges to help those with mental health problems to meet this need. But in countries where wealth is better distributed, people feel more secure and equal, less of these problems exist. This book begins by looking at how modern medicine has been such a benefit in so many areas such as treating leukaemia - once a disease that caused almost fatality and death in most children is now something that can be treated and managed and few children now die from this form of cancer. In fact in all areas of medicine, there has been great gains and successes in treating the health and well-being of others has been remarkable. However, there is one definite exception, the treatment of mental health.

Sedated

This market has thrived on good marketing concealing bad science, on close and often corrupting financial ties between industry and psychiatry, on a deregulated pharmaceutical sector that has lowered regulatory standards, and on the chronic underfunding of psycho-social alternatives. While 7.4 million adults were prescribed antidepressants last year in England’s NHS, for instance, only 1.3 million received psychological therapy. This imbalance does not reflect what most people want, but the staggering impact of commodification. Dr James Davies publishes new book “Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis” Dr James Davies graduated from the University of Oxford in 2006 with a PhD in social and medical anthropology. He is now a Reader in social anthropology and mental health at the University of Roehampton. Davies has used this book to describe the UK’s ‘marketised vision of mental health that has stripped our suffering of its deeper meaning and purpose’ (p.2). His arguments are evidenced by discussions of various research papers, by countless interviews he conducted and by his own attendance at events such as the Occupy movement in New York. Compartiendo gran parte de sus tesis, creo que a veces peca de hablar desde un plano demasiado teórico y poco material. Es cierto que inevitablemente la superestructura determina nuestros valores, cómo nos sentimos y nuestras expectativas, pero frente a la gran crisis de salud mental que estamos viviendo es necesario poner en marcha medidas que ayuden a prevenir, intervenir y paliar la situación. Trascender el modelo biomédico y apostar por recursos psicosociales desde los servicios públicos (sanidad, educación, servicios sociales...). Es importante hacer análisis macro, pero también poner en marcha medidas tangentes y urgentes.

Sedated by James Davies | Waterstones Sedated by James Davies | Waterstones

However, another point in this book is that suffering can actually cause many good things to occur. Think of the civil rights movement which was built on the suffering people were experiencing. Also, many people's suffering such as a death of a partner or child that has an illness can help us to truly start to reevaluate what is truly important in our life.

For most of our history we have needed to act in a cooperative manner to be a part of a society that evolved over a long period of time to an egalitarian way of thinking. But now things have changed. There is a significant link of this book has already pointed out that sometimes inequality is driving increased levels of mental health. The book looks at how people who have aspirations and dreams and what they might buy can influence their personality, for example an interesting experiment was carried out in people who drove high status, expensive cars and low status cars and the people who drove shiny, expensive, high costing cars were more likely to not stop for a pedestrian that was trying to cross the road and show less consideration for others. In my own personal experience I feel that this is often true and that people in low status cars are less likely to cut up in front of people or stop when you are trying to cross a road as opposed to people who might have a nice shiny Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi. For these individuals, there has become an imbalance in provision, with so many offered medical interventions versus talking therapies and social psychological provision, which may better facilitate meaningful change and recovery. Tras una investigación concienciduda sobre el estado de la salud mental en Reino Unido, Davies desmenuza con datos y evidencias de dónde viene la actual crisis de salud mental y cómo se está abordando desde los diferentes gobiernos.