Psychology in the Age of Austerity

Abstract

Researchers have established the detrimental influence of austerity measures on the mental health practices. What is relatively unexplored, however, is the manner in which austerity policies and neoliberal political economy constitute a significant element of contemporary mental health practices themselves. Many commonly-implemented assessments and treatments arguably are designed to emphasize cost-effectiveness, standardization, and the authority of the clinician, and are consequently already thoroughly neoliberal. Several elements of the neoliberal basis to the ideology of the psy-disciplines are examined, along with specific examples of such ideology in use.