Tag: neoliberalism
The Problem of High Functioning Anxiety
We have accepted that the busier we keep ourselves, the happier we can expect our lives to be. "Acceptable behavior" is defined by increased productivity across all aspects of life.
The Social Unconscious and Character Formation in Neoliberal Culture: An Interview...
MIA’s Javier Rizo interviews Lynne Layton about social psychoanalysis and how normative unconscious processes can help illuminate how oppressive systems get internalized and reproduced.
The Politics of Distress: A Discussion With Dr. James Davies on...
James Davies on the medicalization and individualizing of distress and its connection to neoliberal ideology, and the need to focus on pervasive inequality and other social causes.
Insane Medicine: Epilogue
I wanted to interrogate the assumptions that pervade theory, research, and practice in mental health. You can see the emptiness of the empirical and philosophical paradigms in circulation.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 6: Neoliberalism and the Compare-and-Compete Society
Neoliberalism teaches people that suffering has nothing to do with the inequality they experience, but that it comes from their own individual failures of body and mind, and requires "experts" to identify and treat it.
Neuroscientists Suggest That Social Inequalities Can Permanently Alter Our Brains
A recently published article illustrates how the concept of neuroplasticity has been used to explain social inequalities, like poverty, by linking them to biomarkers in the brain.
Does Psychotherapy Reproduce or Disrupt Neoliberal Capitalism?
Researchers explore neoliberal influences on interactions in psychotherapy and question whether the radical potential of psychotherapy can counter prevailing social systems.
The Conflicts That Result From Globalizing Euro-American Psychology in India
Researchers examine the transformation of work, life, and identity in India as a result of Western corporate and psychological culture.
What a Society Designed for Well-Being Looks Like
From YES! Magazine: "To address the dramatic increase in mental and emotional distress in the U.S., we must move beyond a focus on the...
What Does Social Justice Really Mean for Psychologists?
Without clarity and consensus around what social justice means, psychologists risk perpetuating injustices that undermine their stated mission.
Challenging Resilience as a Buzzword: Toward a Contextualized Resilience Model
Researcher Dr. Silke Schwarz highlights how Western psychology’s construction of individual resilience deflects emphasized individual pathology and deflects efforts at structural change.
Anti-Stigma Campaigns Enable Inequality, Sociologists Argue
Scholars contend that stigma functions as a mechanism of power in analysis of UK Heads Together mental health campaign.
We Need to Address the Socioeconomic Causes of Distress
From The Independent: Over the past several years, mental health awareness has become a high priority. But in order to truly make a difference in people's...
Why Lifestyle Tips Won’t Cure the Mounting Stress People Face
From The Independent: Mental health awareness campaigns inundate us with lifestyle tips for managing stress such as mindfulness, meditation, exercise, and nutrition. But these tips...
The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death
In this piece for The New Yorker, Jia Tolentino discusses how the gig economy driven by apps such as Uber and Lyft leads employees to overwork...
Control Under Surveillance Capitalism
From the Political Economy Research Centre: The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica revelations have exposed contemporary society's ubiquitous digital surveillance. Dominance is no longer exerted primarily through physical power but through...
McMindfulness: Buddhism as Sold to You by Neoliberals
From The Conversation: Removed from their ethical and contextual roots, mindfulness-based practices are increasingly being used to reinforce the individualist ideals of capitalist societies.
"Indeed mindfulness-based practices...
How Neoliberalism is Damaging Your Mental Health
From The Conversation: Neoliberal policies and conditions may be at least partly responsible for the growing mental health crisis and decline in collective well-being in...
Neoliberalism Drives Increase in Perfectionism Among College Students
Meta-analytic study detects upsurge in patterns of perfectionism in young adults and explores how neoliberalism contributes to this trend.
“If You Wanted to Kill Yourself, You Would Have Done It”
From The Independent: The notion of choice is increasingly being used to discourage suicidal people from seeking help. Many people's suicidal thoughts and actions are...
Neoliberalism May Have a Devastating Effect on Mental Health
From The Independent: Policies that privilege neoliberal values are having a devastating effect on people with complex mental health needs. In the UK, people with severe...
The Perspective of the Outside
From Red Wedge: Mark Fisher, an author and scholar known for analyzing mental health under neoliberal capitalism, took his own life this past January. His...
George Monbiot on the Politics of Belonging
In this video for Verso Books, author George Monbiot explains how neoliberalism has destroyed our natural capacity for altruism. He proposes that we create a...
The Blathering Superego at the End of History
From the Los Angeles Review of Books: In recent years, liberalism has begun to serve the function of the superego. Like the superego, liberals have...
Why Loneliness Affects so Many Young People
From Vice: The importance placed on self-sufficiency, extreme individualism, and competitive self-interest in our society has contributed to widespread loneliness among millennials.
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