The condition that lost its name but gained a treatment: : experiences of depression and antidepressant use in a neoliberal context

This paper analyses experiences of depression and antidepressant use within a neoliberal society. The paper is based on interviews with mainly women using antidepressants in Sweden and makes use of the post-political as conceptualized by Chantal Mouffe as a framework. I find that depression is reduced to a state, a diagnosis. In comparing with Nancy Friedan who gave the depression and despair American women in the suburbs felt a name and a solution – curbed and isolated lives and emancipation, I argue that depression now has lost its name. This means that articulations of connections between living conditions and becoming depressed are mostly absent in the interviews. In the second I problematize the treatment – antidepressants. First I highlight that the treatment seems to become permanent for many, resulting in long term antidepressant use. Secondly I problematize the underlying necessity that comes forward strongly in the interviews of functioning, to hold on to a job and keep family relations going. Concluding I argue that the lack of a problem combined with a treatment that seems to uphold functioning, forecloses formulations of that something is wrong and/or could change. Linking to the post-political, I would argue that medicine accepts a significant role in understanding depression as a de-politicized health problem. This makes antidepressants a good neoliberal solution, since it makes it possible for persons to stay functioning without articulating any critique or demands for change