QUESTION- Topic 4 DQ 1 Diseases that disproportionately affect the poor are typically prioritized by governments and donors. Some people believe that disorders such as depression are problems of the middle class and the affluent, or represent a “medicalization of misery,” and, therefore, do not deserve a share of scarce resources. What is the evidence linking poverty with mental disorders? How might poverty interact with mental health?

QUESTION- Topic 4 DQ 1 Diseases that disproportionately affect the poor are typically prioritized by governments and donors. Some people believe that disorders such as depression are problems of the middle class and the affluent, or represent a “medicalization of misery,” and, therefore, do not deserve a share of scarce resources. What is the evidence linking poverty with mental disorders? How might poverty interact with mental health?

More than half of the world’s population live in low- and middle-income countries, more than 80% of these suffer from mental disorders (Rathod et al., 2017). According to Rathod et al. (2017), individuals in the lowest socioeconomic status are eight times more likely to develop schizophrenia; additionally, 95% of employers in Poland said they would not hire someone with schizophrenia. This fact alone drastically reduces the chance and support that lower-income individuals must find and maintain meaningful income-generating employment, feeding into the negative cycle and possible complicating mental health issues.

Lund et al. (2011) state that the social causation hypothesis supports poverty increasing the risk of mental illness through varied heightened external stressors like social exclusion, reduced social capital, malnutrition, violence, and trauma. Additionally, according to the social drift hypothesis, those with mental illness are at increased risk of going into and remaining in poverty (Lund et al., 2011). The two pathways discussed appear to cause a negative cycle for those in poverty who have mental health issues or mental disorders. As poverty increases the risk of mental illness, it further decreases productivity, increases social stigma, and causes possible loss of employment and income. Besides relying on government funding and donors for services, addressing this issue can be alleviated by creating national mental health policies that outline mental health priorities and services. According to Merson et al. (2020), lower- and middle-income countries are less likely to have these types of policies in place. The WHO Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package of 2000-2005 provides a series of policy development and service planning for mental health policies (Merson et al., 2020).

Mental health consists of a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being and can change through every life stage (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). Mental illnesses can come and go through varying points in an individual’s life and are diagnosable disorders that affect an individual’s thoughts and actions (CDC, 2021). Individuals can have poor mental health without having a mental illness, and contrary, someone may experience a mental disorder but have varying

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, June 28). About mental health. https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm

Lund, C., De Silva, M., Plagerson, S., Cooper, S., Chisholm, D., Das, J., Knapp, M., & Patel, V. (2011). Poverty and mental disorders: breaking the cycle in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet (London, England), 378(9801), 1502–1514. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60754-X