This article by Susan McPherson and Jeppe Oute has been published by Mad in America. It begins:
“Between 2014 and 2020, the UN published three reports on mental health, prepared by the special rapporteur on the right to health (Dainius Puras). These called for a radical change in the practice and organization of mental health care across the world. The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights declared the work ‘groundbreaking’:
In 2017, the Special Rapporteur issued a ground-breaking report addressing the ‘global burden of obstacles’ in mental health settings and in the field of psychiatry. The obstacles are: 1. the dominance of the biomedical paradigm; 2. power asymmetries which impact all levels of the decision-making in mental health policies and services, and 3. the biased use of evidence in mental health. (UN OHCHR)
The reports were generally well received by country representatives at the UN Human Rights Council. The work sparked various news headlines across the world such as ‘Austerity and Inequality Fueling Mental Illness, Says Top UN Envoy‘ (The Guardian, UK); ‘Why Combatting Depression Involves Addressing Inequalities‘ (The Wire, India); ‘Why Mental Health Is a Human Right‘ (The New Statesman, UK). They also sparked various academic commentaries, some more skeptical than others, such as the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry: Responding to the UN Special Rapporteur’s Anti-Psychiatry Bias.’ …”
You can read more from here.
