Mental health is not an individual matter, but a political one

In 1965, an article entitled ‘Poverty and Social Change’ appeared in the magazine Scientific American. It introduced readers to a tiny rural community in Nova Scotia, Canada, nicknamed ‘the Road’. It was among the poorest communities in its county and was a part of the Stirling County Study – one of the largest and longest psychiatric epidemiology studies ever conducted…. By evaluating the inhabitants of the Road and other communities, the researchers hoped to draw connections between socioeconomic factors and mental health.