The link between mental health and social conditions | Letters

Readers and healthcare professionals respond to Dr Sanah Ahsan's article which argued that for too long, the dominant mental health narrative has located problems in individuals, and not in social injustice or inequality

Like Dr Sanah Ahsan (I'm a psychologist - and I believe we've been told devastating lies about mental health, 6 September), I too work as a clinical psychologist and I see every day the impact of inequality, social injustice and abuse of power on individuals' mental health (and by association, the mental health of their children, partners, colleagues and acquaintances).

For too long, the dominant narrative locates problems in individuals, medicalises them and leaves people feeling helpless, ill and stigmatised. It is as though they are defective, and not positive and resilient enough. This lie affects people from all walks of life, but most severely those who are already disfranchised through poverty and inequality.