United Nations Statement Criticizes Medicalization of Depression on World Health Day

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https://www.madinamerica.com/2017/04/united-nations-statement-criticizes-medicalization-depression-world-health-day/

On World Health Day, Dainius Pūras, a medical doctor and representative for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), issued a statement critiquing biomedical conceptions of depression and calling for psychosocial and political interventions.

 

“Evidence and the experience of rights-holders now tells us that the dominant biomedical narrative of depression as a ‘burden’ on individuals and societies is shortsighted and insufficient for developing appropriate responses in policy and in practice. This is a widespread and systemic public health and human rights issue which demands urgent reconsideration of how we invest in mental health and how we manage conditions such as depression,” he writes.