From Truthout: According to the World Health Organization, poverty and unemployment are leading causes of depression and suicide. Still, recommended solutions for depression tend to focus on individual interventions instead of addressing underlying structural issues.
“However, as a faculty member in Global Health Studies at Northwestern University, I find it striking that the WHO highlights poverty and unemployment as leading causes of depression, yet suggests exercise, school-based prevention programs, therapy and medication to solve it. If poverty and unemployment are major causes of depression, shouldn’t our remedies address economic drivers of poverty and unemployment, rather than narrowly focusing on school programs and exercise? Is expanding mental illness solely a health issue, or is it also a foreseeable response to expanding economic stress?”
