UN Secretary-General António Guterres has again called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine to allow delivery of life-saving aid as well as evacuations, his spokesperson said on Monday.
The appeal followed attacks on cities across the country– most recently Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv – which resulted in numerous civilian casualties and destruction.
Mr. Guterres was also greatly concerned about the continuing appalling humanitarian situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in New York.
“The Secretary-General strongly urges all parties to enact an urgent and immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which will enable the safe and secure functioning of humanitarian corridors, help evacuate civilian residents and also deliver life-saving humanitarian and medical assistance,”said Mr. Dujarric, speaking during his daily briefing at UN Headquarters.
Stressing that “genuine negotiations must be given a chance to succeed and to bring lasting peace”, he said the UN stands ready to support such efforts.
Genuine negotiations must be given a chance to succeed and to bring lasting peace – UN chief
Prior to the briefing, UN relief chief Martin Griffiths told journalists that although humanitarian ceasefires in Ukraine are “not on the horizon right now”, they could be in a couple of weeks.
Mr. Griffiths reported on his visits to Russia and Ukraine earlier this month, where he held discussions with senior officials on UN “aspirations” for humanitarian pauses and on how to improve the notification system that allows safe passage of humanitarian workers and supplies.
Travel to Turkey
“Obviously we have not yet got humanitarian ceasefires in place on the Russian side,” he said. “I went into a lot of details on this, and they continue to promise to get back to me on the details of those proposals.”
Mr. Griffiths will travel to Turkey this week to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on hosting humanitarian talks between Russia and Ukraine.
On Sunday, the Secretary-General spoke with President Erdoğan, expressing his ongoing support for the Istanbul process related to the war in Ukraine. He also underlined the need for humanitarian corridors for aid distribution and evacuations.
Asked about Turkey’s role, Mr. Griffiths said he was impressed by how the country has presented itself to both sides as a “genuinely valuable and useful host” for talks.
“In classical mediation terms, there isn’t a mediation really going on between the Russians and Ukrainians,” he said, “but the Turks come closest to it, I think, of all Member States.”
On the prospects for a ceasefire, Mr. Griffiths pointed to the example of Yemen, where warring sides have implemented a two-month truce.
“Ceasefires, they’re not on the horizon right now. But they may be in a couple of weeks; they may be a little bit longer than that,” he said. “And it will all depend on two things: the war, of course….and the talks.”
The EPPO investigates €5.4 billion worth of loss to the EU budget in its first 7 months of activity
In its first annual report, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) gives an account of the first 7 months of its operational activity. For the first time, statistics on EPPO operations per participating Member State, crime, seizures, number of indictments and other key figures are shared.
While many expected a slow start followed by a gradual increase in activity, the EPPO worked at full speed from Day 1. The EPPO is a systemic part of the overall architecture put in place to protect EU taxpayers’ money.
Laura Kövesi, European Chief Prosecutor: “European cannot mean weak! The EPPO is a very powerful tool for protecting expenditures as well as revenues of the EU budget by means of criminal law. 20 years after the Euro zone, we have created the EPPO zone. Embedded in the national judiciaries of the 22 participating Member States, the EPPO is in the first line of defence of the rule of law in the EU. The first 7 months of our operations made at least one thing clear: if we are hindered in the exercise of our competence, the protection of the EU budget is at stake.”
2021 in numbers
Some of the key figures featured in the annual report, valid on 31 December 2021:
2832 crime reports were processed;
576 investigations opened since 1 June 2021;
515 active investigations on 31 December 2021;
€5.4 billion estimated damages in the active investigations;
€147.3 million in seizures, three times the EPPO’s actual 2021 budget;
95 European Delegated Prosecutors were appointed, working in 35 EPPO offices in the 22 participating Member States;
122 staff members in the central office in Luxembourg.
Of the 576 investigations opened in 2021, 298 were new cases initiated by the EPPO, and 278 were so-called backlog cases reported by the national authorities and taken over by the EPPO.
More detailed statistics, per participating Member State, are available here.
The EPPO focuses on complex, cross-border investigations into sophisticated economic and financial crime, in particular where serious organised crime is involved. It investigates fraud involving EU funds of over €10 000 and cross-border VAT fraud with damages above €10 million.
Of the 515 active investigations, we have identified the following as the most frequent types of crimes affecting the EU budget:
Non-procurement expenditure fraud (31.8%): use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, common in agricultural subsidies.
VAT revenue fraud (17.6%): carousel fraud, VAT fraud through missing traders, and VAT fraud committed within a criminal organisation.
Non-VAT revenue fraud (13.4%): customs and anti-dumping duties fraud.
Procurement expenditure fraud (11.2%): the use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, mainly in construction, waste, technology and HR development programmes.
Corruption (4%): active and passive corruption of public officials.
Excellent and efficient cross-border cooperation
Law enforcement actors across the EU have discovered the speed, efficiency and information gains they can expect when working with the EPPO, compared to traditional mutual legal assistance arrangements and cross-border coordination methods. Because of the EPPO’s independence and cross-border competences, the organisation of coordinated searches or arrests across borders has been a matter of weeks, instead of months.
Improving the level of protection of the financial interests of the EU starts with increasing the level of detection of EU fraud. Differences between Member States in this regard have been significant for a long time, and the EPPO is committed to closing these gaps with the support of its national and international partners.
Investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU is the EPPO’s mission, and it will continue to identify shortcomings and analyse any challenges that arise in our ultimate aim of protecting EU taxpayers’ money from criminals.
Cooperation with partners, non-participating EU Member States and third countries
To allow for a quicker exchange of information, the EPPO signed working arrangements with the European Commission, Eurojust, Europol, OLAF, the European Court of Auditors, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund.
Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and Sweden are not participating in the EPPO. In 2021, these five Member States were involved in 48 EPPO cases. The cooperation with Sweden runs without difficulties because of the relevant EU acts on judicial cooperation in criminal matters. A working arrangement with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Hungary was signed in April 2021. However, both Danish and Irish authorities still need time for internal consultations, and the negotiations regarding a working arrangement with the National Prosecutor’s Office of Poland were unsuccessful.
As regards third countries, the EPPO initiated negotiations with the aim of concluding working arrangements with the relevant authorities of the United States of America and Ukraine.
The Ombudsman has asked the Commission for details on the length of time it takes to deal with public access to documents requests following an increase in complaints regarding delays in the process. This was reported last April 6th by the European Ombudsman website, an investigation opened n Monday 4th of April on the European Commission, with case number OI/2/2022/MIG.
To get an overview of the situation, the Ombudsman asked the Commission how many requests for public access to documents it received in 2021 and the average time it took to deal with them. The Ombudsman also asked for the number of confirmatory requests – when people resubmit the same requests as they are not satisfied with the institution’s response – it received in 2021.
The aim of the inquiry is to try to identify a systemic approach for reducing handling time for such requests and is part of the broader goal of supporting the public’s fundamental right to access to documents.
The Ombudsman regularly receives access to documents complaints and deals with them under a fast-track procedure. Last year the office published a guide for the EU administration on how it can better implement its obligations regarding the public’s right to access documents.
The guide says EU institutions should have policies on document publication and retention and should have a ‘public register of documents’. It also says that annual statistics should be published on how the institutions handle access to documents requests.
Brian Evans new single “I’m A Traveler,” produced by Narada Michael Walden, known for producing Whiteney Houston, Aretha Franklin and more will be released on iTunes April 20th.
Narada Michael Walden produced “I’m A Traveler” for Brian Evans. The song will be released April 20th.
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA, April 17, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Brian Evans, the crooner who has opened for numerous stars such as Bob Saget, Joan Rivers, Social Distortion, Louie Anderson, David Spade, and the list goes on, will release his single “I’m A Traveler” to adult contemporary radio and smooth jazz stations across the nation on April 20th through ESW Management.The song, “I’m A Traveler,” which Evans wrote, is produced by Narada Michael Walden, the legendary producer behind Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, George Michael, and others known the world over.
Evans has performed in Las Vegas for many years, and has also written several novels including “Horrorscope,” “The Funny Robbers,” “Savannah,” and has seen the first novel adapted by Westwind Comics recently into a graphic novel.
His rendition of “New York, New York” has received over 500 million streams on the social media network TikTok, and with his combined music videos on YouTube, Evans videos “At Fenway” featuring William Shatner, a song about the Boston Red Sox, “A Beautiful Game” featuring Lou Diamond Phillips and “Breaking Bad” star RJ Mitte honoring the sport of soccer, and his Halloween themed song “Creature at The Bates Motel” among other videos have garnered him more than 50 million views on YouTube. His version of “Witchcraft” alone, performed during a live concert on Maui, where he founded and produced The Maui Celebrity Series, has received more than 6 million views alone.
Evans took to writing books for the last eight years following the unexpected loss of his mother, Helen, following knee surgery and had not performed for several years.
“There’s a combination between his “Horrorscope” project and a live concert special on a streaming network.”
Evans named as one of the most relevant crooners by Grammy Magazine of his generation, is starting to sing again, and “I’m A Traveler” is what he considers to be his own personal anthem. He is considering performing in Las Vegas again.
“I’m opening for people right now, but I’m getting there.”
Walden will continue producing Evans, as does Vegas producer Gary Anderson occasionally, also a Grammy winner.
NETHERLANDS, April 15 – The Invictus Games are an international sporting event for service personnel and veterans who have been physically or mentally injured in the line of duty. Despite their disabilities, they are eager and able to compete at a high level. The Invictus Games use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country.
The first event took place in London in 2014, followed by Orlando, Toronto, Sydney and now The Hague. The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry), who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, founded the Invictus Games and will be in attendance.
According to the mayor of The Hague Jan van Zanen, this initiative is consistent with Dutch values:
‘The Invictus Games are a tribute to all veterans who have dedicated themselves to the values that we hold dear in The Hague: peace and justice. At this time, it is especially fitting that we show our appreciation and gratitude.’
The word ‘invictus’ means ‘unconquered’ and embodies the fighting spirit and positive approach to life of physically and mentally injured service personnel. It personifies what these men and women can accomplish in spite of their injuries. It’s not about winning medals but about achieving personal goals.
The Invictus Games are about much more than just sport. They capture hearts, challenge minds and change lives. The athletes are heroes who have paid a high price for their commitment to peace and security. They each have their own story about their physical injury or mental illness. But they have all found the strength to carry on and the motivation to push their boundaries. The Invictus Games are a tribute to the veterans who have served the cause of peace and justice in the world.
Self-confidence
Teams from Afghanistan, Belgium, Canada, Iraq and other countries will take part in ten different sports in The Hague. Dutch service personnel will also be participating. Although the Games are now finally getting under way after a two-year delay due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine – one of the participating countries – is casting a shadow over the event. The Ukrainian team recently lost one of its members in the war.
The injuries that service personnel suffer are not always visible. There are also competitors who have sustained mental injuries in the line of duty. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, people realised how quickly their lives can be turned upside down, causing the things we all take for granted to disappear. This kind of upheaval can have a negative impact on people’s mental health, but sport offers a way to rebuild confidence in the future.
The Invictus Games are about inspiring recovery and growth among the competitors. It is also important to create acceptance and support in the world. The Invictus Games offer an opportunity to show what sport can mean to wounded servicemen and women. The Games are well-known among veterans and service personnel but the event is also gaining in popularity among the general public. Friends and relatives of the athletes attend the Games too. Their role in recovery process after an injury or illness deserves recognition.
As heavy fighting and missile strikes continue to destroy critical civilian infrastructure, humanitarian needs in Ukraine remain extremely high. Despite access and security constraints, EU humanitarian aid partners are providing assistance to vulnerable people in different regions of Ukraine.
The EU is allocating a further €50 million in humanitarian funding to support the people affected by Russia’s war on Ukraine, including €45 million for humanitarian projects in Ukraine and €5 million for Moldova. This brings the EU’s total humanitarian aid funding in response to the war to €143 million. This funding is part of the €1 billion support package pledged by the European Commission at last week’s global pledging event ‘Stand Up For Ukraine’.
This new funding will address the most pressing humanitarian needs by providing emergency medical services, access to safe drinking water and hygiene, shelter and protection, cash assistance, and support against gender-based violence.
Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said “With millions of people on the move or trapped in active war zones, the needs in Ukraine are already massive. Now, we need to be prepared for a further increase in Russia’s ruthless attacks on Ukraine, notably in the east. With this additional €50 million the EU continues to rapidly make available humanitarian funding to its partners in order to further scale-up the assistance. It will help people in hard-to-reach areas who are cut off from access to healthcare, water and electricity, and those, who have been forced to flee and leave everything behind. Ukraine, we are with you.”
Background
Following an invasion by Russia on 24 February, the humanitarian needs in Ukraine have risen to unprecedented levels. The ongoing hostilities endanger the lives of civilians and cause severe damage to housing, water and electricity supply, heating, but also public infrastructure such as schools, and health facilities. Many people have no access to basic needs. The population is exposed to shelling, armed violence, mines, family separation, looting or eviction, and human trafficking. There are high risks of gender-based violence against women and girls.
On 28 February, the European Commission announced €90 million for humanitarian aid programmes to help civilians affected by the war in Ukraine. This included respectively €85 million for Ukraine and €5 million for Moldova. On 10 March, the European Commission allocated further humanitarian funding of €3 million to Moldova to support those fleeing Ukraine.
The European Commission is also coordinating its largest ever civil protection operation to assist affected people both in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries. To date, more than 19 000 tonnes of assistance have been delivered to Ukraine from the EU’s logistics hubs in Poland, Slovakia and Romania. The assistance coordinated via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism includes essential supplies like medicines, food, power generators and shelter equipment.
Six weeks ago, life was easy for Yuliia, her husband Valerii, and their small son Artemko.They had just moved into a new apartment in a quiet, green part of Bucha. She had a job as a hairdresser and loved nothing more than when a client left her salon looking beautiful and confident.
Everything changed one awful morning at the end of February. War – violent, loud and terrifying – roared from the north. With her neighbourhood in flames, Yuliia made the decision to flee.
She and her family, including her mother Zinaida, joined over 7.1 million (as of 1 April 2022) internally displaced persons (IDPs) across Europe’s largest country.
After four weeks on the road, they arrived in the western province of Zakarpattia, hundreds of kilometres from her shattered hometown.
When Yuliia saw the horrific pictures and videos of the slaughter and destruction in Bucha, she instantly burst into tears and remained speechless for a while. “This level of violence is impossible to comprehend,” she finally said. “That is not something you would wish on the enemy, but this is something that will never be forgiven nor forgotten.”
From her neighbours, Yuliia learned that after her family had left, their flat was taken over, and their belongings were looted. The factory where Yuliia’s mother worked was destroyed by bombs.
Even though Ukrainian authorities have regained control, people are still not allowed to come back home due to risks of mines, and other explosive remnants of war.
A destroyed tank in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine.
‘This is our home now’
Here in Zakarpattia, they can finally catch a break. Together with a hundred other IDPs, they found a temporary shelter in a school in the small town of Bushtyno. Volunteers from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have done their best to turn impersonal classrooms into cosy bedrooms. The sports hall has become a central warehouse for all the necessities of daily life.
“So here we are. This is our home now. We have everything we need, and kind people are helping us in every way they can,” says Yuliia. “Even though we are sleeping on mattresses on the floor now, missiles are not flying over our heads and my child is safe. This is the only thing that matters now.”
She hopes that her son will not have any memories of those terrifying weeks of fear and flight. “We do not have many personal belongings but what really breaks my heart is that we were not able to take any toys for Artemko. He loves cars and, at home, he had a lot of car toys, which he misses very much, and asks all the time when he can come back home to play with them again.
I want him just to be a child, play games and spend time with other kids. If he could have some toys or a bike, he would be really happy. And it would make me happy too.”
The UN migration agency (IOM) has been on the ground providing essential humanitarian assistance to displaced people like Yuliia and her family.
IOM response includes food, non-food and hygiene items, cash, mental health and psychosocial support, as well as prevention of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and abuse.
Over 50,000 people have received practical humanitarian help from IOM in Ukraine since the start of the war.
Pope Francis attended the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica, filled with 5,500 pilgrims. This celebration is the most solemn and noblest of all Solemnities.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the celebration, while Pope Francis delivered his homily and baptised seven catechumens. The Pope has suffered from knee pain in recent months, something he also mentioned when speaking to journalists recently after his pastoral journey to Malta.
Present at the celebration were members of a small delegation from Ukraine, made up of representatives of the local government and the country’s parliament, whom the Pope met with just before the liturgy began.
The delegation included the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, now an exile. The Pope greeted him in particular during the celebration.
“In this darkness that you are living, Mr. Mayor, Parliamentarians, the thick darkness of war, of cruelty, we are all praying, praying with you and for you this night. We are praying for all the suffering. We can only give you our company, our prayer and say to you: “Courage! We are accompanying you!” And also to say to you the greatest thing we are celebrating today: Christòs voskrés! Christ is risen!”
Delivering his homily seated, the Pope recalled how many writers have evoked the beauty of starlit nights, whereas nights of war are marked by streams of light portending death.
From bewilderment to joy
Reflecting on this Easter night, he encouraged everyone to see the hopeful light of dawn as experienced by the women of the Gospel who discovered the empty tomb of Jesus. They show us “the first rays of the dawn of God’s life rising in the darkness of our world.”
Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica
The Pope recalled how the women who went early in the morning to annoint the body of Jesus were startled to find it empty while meeting two figures in dazzling garments telling them Jesus was risen.
“They saw, they heard, they proclaimed” – three aspects of their experience we also can gain from when remembering the Lord’s passover from death to life.
The women saw
The first news of the resurrection marked “a sign to be contemplated,” the Pope observed, as it totally overturned expectations and came as an amazing and surprising hope.
Sometimes radically good news many not “find a place in our hearts,” the Pope added, and like the women in the Gospel we can initially react with doubts and especially fear, as the Gospel narrative describes their reaction.
Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica
We can sometimes keep looking at life and reality with a downcast persepctive, the Pope went on to say, and even write off the future, believe things will never change or improve, burying “the joy of living.”
Yet, the Easter hope we proclaim today is a call by the Lord to see life with different eyes, and make the jump to really believing that “fear, pain and death will not have the last word over us.”
While death can fill us with fear and sadness, he said, we must remember that “the Lord is risen!”
“Let us lift up our gaze, remove the veil of sadness and sorrow from our eyes, and open our hearts to the hope that God brings!”
The women heard
Recalling the two men in dazzling garments who spoke to women, saying “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen,” the Pope said we do well to hear and repeat their words “He is not here!”
This response can be for us too when we think we have understood everything about God and allow our own ideas and perspectives to contain Him, or we only seek the Lord in times of need and forget Him the rest of our daily lives, or when we neglect the Lord present in our brothers and sister who need our help.
Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica
The Pope added that we need to break free of moribund ways of thinking and behaving, where we can become prisoners of the past, lacking courage to to let ourselves be forgiven by God, to opt in favour for Jesus and his love.
We need to accept and encounter the living God who desires to change us and to change our world.
“Yet the Lord is risen! Let us not tarry among the tombs, but run to find him, the Living One! Nor may we be afraid to seek him also in the faces of our brothers and sisters, in the stories of those who hope and dream, in the pain of those who we suffer: God is there!”
The women proclaimed
The final verb the Pope underscored is how the women proclaimed the joy of the resurrection, opening “hearts to the extraordinary message of God’s triumph over evil and death.”
This joy was not just a happy consolation, but animated them to generate missionary disciples who “bring to all the Gospel of the risen Christ.”
The Pope said after the women saw and heard, they were overcome with a drive and the exhilaration to tell this good news, even if people thought they were crazy or would not believe it.
Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica
Joy of the Gospel
The Pope expressed his wish for a Church that can proclaim in the same way, with the same fervour, the joy of the Gospel, what all Christians are called to do “to experience the risen Christ and to share the experience with others” and the joy it brings.
Easter Vigil baptism of catechumens
“Let us make Jesus, the Living One, rise again from all those tombs in which we have sealed him…Let us bring him into our everyday lives: through gestures of peace in these days marked by the horrors of war, through acts of reconciliation amid broken relationships, acts of compassion towards those in need, acts of justice amid situations of inequality and of truth in the midst of lies. And above all, through works of love and fraternity.”
Hope has a name: the name of Jesus
In conclusion, Pope Francis recalled how Jesus entered “the tomb of our sin” and “bore the weight of our burdens” restoring us to life.
“Let us celebrate Easter with Christ! He is alive! Today, too, he walks in our midst, changes us and sets us free…For with Jesus, the Risen Lord, no night will last forever; and even in the darkest night, the morning star continues to shine.”
By Nathan Morley – Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli police in Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound on Friday.
This site in Jerusalem’s Old City saw frenzied scenes as 150 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli riot police after dawn prayers.
The Palestinian news media reported many were injured by rubber-coated bullets; stun grenades, and beatings with truncheons.
After the clashes, the Israeli police said that they moved into the mosque to disperse a crowd of Palestinians who had been hurling firecrackers and rocks.
At least three police officers were hurt, according to security services, whilst hundreds of Palestinians were detained.
The police and army in Israel have been on high alert after a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout the country over the past fortnight.
Tensions this year have increased in part by Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish celebration of Passover.
The holy site – which sits in the heart of old Jerusalem – is revered by Jews as the holiest site in Judaism, and known to Muslims as one of the three holiest sites in Islam.
In a message to the press, the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli actions, and the Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported authorities in Amman described it as a ‘flagrant violation’.
Late on Friday, a large group gathered outside a mosque near the Israeli embassy in Jordan to show their solidarity with Palestinian people.
Violence has flared at this site dozens of times of the past few years.
Separately, Washington says is deeply concerned by violence. In a statement, spokesperson Ned Price called on all sides to exercise restraint, avoid provocative actions and rhetoric, and ‘preserve the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount’.
Psychiatry medicalizes problems that are actually social
How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis. A provocative and shocking look at how western society is misunderstanding and mistreating mental illness. Perfect for fans of Empire of Pain and Dope Sick. In Britain alone, more than 20% of the adult population take a psychiatric drug in any one year.
Last April 9th, 2022, Irene Hernandez Velasco a reporter for Spanish newspaper El Mundo, published an astonishing interview with Dr. James Davies, author of “Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good“. For those who don’t speak Spanish, we offer here a translation, but its original can be found in the this link.
James Davies, Professor of Anthropology and Psychotherapy at the University of Roehampton (UK). In “Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis” he reveals what is wrong so that, despite the enormous increase in the consumption of psychotropic drugs, mental illnesses do not stop rising.
Psychiatric prescriptions have increased in the UK by 500% since 1980, with all Western countries registering a huge rise. However, mental health problems have not only not diminished but have grown. How is it possible?
I think fundamentally it is because we have taken the wrong approach, an approach that medicalizes and over-medicates understandable human reactions to the difficult circumstances we often face.
Is it a coincidence that this increase in the consumption of psychiatric drugs began in the 1980s?
No, it is not by chance. Since the 1980s the mental health sector has evolved to serve the interests of today’s capitalism, neoliberalism, at the expense of people in need. And that explains why mental health outcomes haven’t improved over that time period: because it’s not about helping individuals, it’s about helping the economy.
Can you give us an example of that link between psychiatry and neoliberalism to which you allude?
From the point of view of neoliberalism, the current over-medicalization approach works for several reasons: first, because it depoliticizes suffering, it conceptualizes suffering in a way that shields economics from criticism. We see an example in the dissatisfaction of many workers. But that dissatisfaction, instead of giving rise to a debate about the poor conditions of modern working life, is addressed as something that is wrong within the worker, something that needs to be confronted and changed. And I could give you many other examples.
Is it then about turning a social problem into an individual problem?
Yes. It is about reducing suffering to an internal dysfunction, to something that is wrong within us, instead of seeing it as a reaction of our organism before the bad things that are happening in the world and that need our attention and care.
The data show that people with the worst economic conditions, those most affected by unemployment and poverty, are the ones who are prescribed the most psychoactive drugs. Does that also have something to do with the economy?
-Absolutely. Just look at what has happened during the pandemic. Single mothers living in large city blocks were three times more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than people with a house in the country with a large garden. The circumstances one finds oneself in determine one’s state of mind. But instead of focusing on those circumstances through political reforms, what we do is medicalize the problem and think that we can treat it in clinics and health centers. That has been the main problem for the last 40 years, the arrogant idea that through a pill we can solve problems that are not rooted in neurochemistry, but in the world. And, ultimately, it is political reforms that we have to think about if we want to solve that problem.
And do you think that approach to psychiatry in line with neoliberalism is deliberate?
Well, there have been powerful industrial interests that have supported the over-medicalization of everyday life. That has been very good for the pharmaceutical industry, because the more people that can be classified as mentally ill or mentally disturbed, the bigger the market for products that seem to solve the problem. The pharmaceutical industry has absolutely promoted that idea in a very calculated way for the last 30 years. On the other hand, when it comes to governments I don’t think they have necessarily been colluding with the pharmaceutical industry. I think that it has rather had to do with ideologies and ideas that seem to fit with their own, and in this way they have privileged ways of intervening and thinking about stress and anguish that fit with their criteria. In that sense, the depoliticizing narrative is good from a political point of view. This mutual alliance between the pharmaceutical industry and political powers has been evolving slowly for 40 years and is what has led us to the situation in which we now find ourselves. I don’t think that alliance was necessarily calculated, it was simply the inevitable result of both finding some kind of support in each other.
Isn’t neoliberalism then just an economic paradigm?
No. We know from social history that the dominant economic paradigm at a time shapes social institutions, molds them to fit that system. So all social institutions, to one degree or another, change to serve that larger superstructure. We have seen it in schools, in universities, in hospitals… Why shouldn’t it also happen in the field of mental health? Of course it happens.
In the end, is psychiatry doing more harm than good?
I believe that if psychiatry does not recognize to what extent it is an accomplice of a system that harms, it is itself harming. Psychiatry can evolve, see to what extent it is complicit and can change. Psychiatry is a social institution that by nature is not harmful, it all depends on how it operates as a social institution. And at this time as a social institution, and given what it privileges, I would say that in many cases it is doing more harm than good. The data I provide in my book on the long-term prescription of psychoactive drugs I think illustrates this very well. These data show that these drugs are not only not generating the results that we would expect from an effective service, but that they are also harming many people who are negatively affected by these long-term treatments. And third, those drugs are costing an enormous amount of money. Putting all this together, I believe that psychiatry as a social institution is not acting as it should at this time.
He says that psychiatry is hyper-medicating many patients… But I guess there are people who really need medication, right?
Yes I agree. I am not anti-drugs or anti-psychiatry. Psychiatry plays a role in society, psychiatric medication plays a role for seriously distressed people. In fact, research shows that prescribing short-term psychotropic medications can be very helpful and advantageous. What I criticize is the overextension of a system that is now approaching a quarter of our adult population being prescribed some one type of psychiatric medication a year. That system is completely out of control. It is this excess that I criticize, the medicalization of problems that are actually social and psychological and therefore should be addressed with social and psychological interventions. Yes, there is a role for psychiatry in society, but not the one it currently represents.
When you talk about psychological interventions, do you mean doing therapy?
I think there are different ways to proceed. I think therapy plays a role, but I think we also need to recognize that therapy in the past has been responsible for reducing problems to internal dysfunction, family dynamics, or past incidents. We must understand that families are inserted into larger social systems. Suffering cannot be reduced to the family, because the family is often an expression of something else. A father who comes home in a foul mood may do so because he is depressed with his job, because he is in danger of his job, or because his salary is not enough. Those are factors that can make family life very difficult, and if therapists aren’t aware of that, it’s a big problem. I believe that therapy that takes political and social issues into consideration can be very supportive in raising awareness not only of immediate issues, but also of broader structures and how these affect health. That kind of therapy is very valuable. There are many psychological interventions that can be very helpful, but I don’t think we should stop there.
What else should be done?
I think we should also recognize that there are very serious and real social determinants of distress, and the only way to address them is through social policies. We need to think more about what kind of policies should be put in place to solve the current crisis we find ourselves in. Political reforms must be the central pillar of any mental health reform.
And do you think it will be done?
If history is any guide, we know that economic paradigms rise and fall. We have seen this over the last 200 years, and I suspect that many people are thinking that neoliberalism as an economic paradigm is coming to an end. As for what comes after neoliberalism, I hope it will be something with a more humanistic style, a kind of mixed economy capitalism. I believe that this could fit in with a vision of mental health that privileges political, social and psychological interventions over psychotropic drugs, knowing of course that there is a space for psychotropic drugs, but less than the one they occupy now. It is very difficult to know for sure where we are going to be, but I believe that there will be no mental health reform until there are political and economic reforms.
How have psychiatrists reacted to your book?
So far the reaction has been pretty good. I have friends who are psychiatrists, I don’t see psychiatrists or primary care doctors as enemies in any way. They are good people trying to do a good job under very, very difficult circumstances, and they are often victims of a larger structural system, as are the people who come to them for help. The psychiatrists I have talked to are interested in the analysis that I do, an analysis in which I try to go beyond blaming a psychiatrist or a hospital and in which I examine the structural reasons that have led us to this situation. And I think that’s interesting for a lot of psychiatrists. They may agree or disagree with my argument, but most seem to me to be sympathetic to the analysis and its intent. Besides,
Has the pandemic made it more evident that we need a paradigm shift?
I think so. I think that the pandemic has shown the extent to which circumstances, relationships and situations affect mental health, and that narrative has been reinforced because the entire population has had a change in circumstances that for many people has had a strong impact on the way they feel and function. The social model of anxiety and stress has gained credibility as a result of what we have seen. And we’ve also seen more people acknowledge that medicalizing distress not only doesn’t solve the problem, it’s not feasible. In the UK, for example, there has been a strong push to demedicalise distress and stress because the health service is unable to deal with it. For the first time in 40 years, major bodies like England’s Public Health said: ” Your anguish and stress are not medical problems. Don’t come to us, our hands are tied. We have too many people right now, it’s a social problem. It’s just the opposite of what we’ve been told for a long time. More credence is being given to new narratives now, let’s see how that evolves.
