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Moving Social Policy from Mental Illness to Public Wellbeing

Bibliographic Data

ID2116308
AuthorsMatthew Fisher (0000-0003-3756-1146, Flinders University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume51
Issue3
Pages567-581
Publication date2022-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279421000866
OpenAlexW4200176146
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited28

In the face of global epidemics of mental ill-health, the future of social policy lies with promotion of public wellbeing. This article aims to provide an explanatory rationale and methods for a fundamental shift in social policy; away from a remedial focus on mental ill-health defined in terms of disease or aberrant behaviour and toward a focus on universal access to social conditions favourable to psychological wellbeing. The paper begins with prefacing argument about the urgent need for such a shift, noting the high rates of mental ill-health globally and the failure of current biomedical responses to reduce these. Building on recent theoretical work on public wellbeing and evidence on social determinants of mental health, the paper then proposes nine domains for social policy and broader public policy action, to create conditions supportive of wellbeing abilities. Finally, the paper presents several conceptual issues relating to the challenge of putting such action into practice and concludes that contemporary understanding of wellbeing offers a theory of change to shift social policy from mental illness to public wellbeing

Action (physics) · Argument (complex analysis) · Mental health · Mental illness · Political science · Politics · Promotion (chess) · Psychiatry · Public health · Public policy · Public relations · Social policy · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Health, psychology, and well-being · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Health Policy

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Unique citing works7
Citations per year2,33
Citation span2023 - 2025 (3)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 5
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