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Campaign ‘Healthy Society, Healthy People!’ – Information sheet (December 2006)

On 21st June 2006 Humanistisch-Vrijzinnige Vereniging (HVV) organized its 8th Freethinkers Conference: Cracked up. Sociocritical reflections on a depressed society. The conference texts have been published in brochure form. HVV wanted to draw extra attention to this issue in a different way by launching the ‘Healthy Society, Healthy People!’ campaign on 13th December 2006. The title refers to the classic adage ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ (‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’) of the Roman poet Juvenal.

The figures about depression, suicide and use of antidepressants in Belgium clearly indicate that things are going completely wrong. More than 15% of the citizens in the Belgian welfare state (about 1,500,000 people) live below the poverty line. The number of people with mental complaints remains high but stable, and yet prescription of antidepressants has almost doubled in the last ten years. Although many people call themselves happy, there are seven suicides a day. Mental health in our country seems to be deteriorating fast.

Research has shown that many individuals and groups are structurally excluded. The quality of many people’s lives is undermined by a sickening logic. With ‘Healthy Society, Healthy People!’, HVV and its partners are campaigning against these tendencies.

HVV has put together a platform group of concerned organizations and academics, who support the content of the campaign. Organizations and academics are part of this humanist platform. The platform has drawn up a text of recommendations.

Organizations: Sarah Beweging - Sarah Movement (Jan Vanhaelen), Holebifederatie - LGB Federation (Eva Dumon), Netwerk Psychiatrie en Samenleving – Network Psychiatry and Society (dr. Eric Rosseel). Academics: Els Ooms (assistant Psychoanalysis Department, UGent), prof. dr. Ronald Commers (ethicist, CEVI, UGent), prof. dr. Filip Geerardyn (psychoanalyst, (UGent), prof. dr. Fred Louckx (health sociologist, VUB), prof. dr. Walter Vandereycken (psychiatrist, K.U.Leuven) and prof. dr. Jan Vranken (sociologist, OASeS, UA).


The platform’s basic principle

In spite of numerous government measures concerning mental health, it is the platform’s opinion that not enough attention is being paid to social and structural factors. ‘Health’ and ‘disease’ are usually context linked. In our platform text and during the campaign we emphasize the following issues that require sustained attention:

  1. Welfare does not automatically mean (mental) well-being. The economic rat race takes its toll: many people suffer from stress and become depressed. Are we all stuck on the treadmill?

  2. Imagine being a fifteen-year-old lesbian... One out of three LGB adolescents considers suicide. One out of four lesbian girls attempts suicide. Why? Because we are all heteros? Do not set yourself as the standard.

  3. The pharmaceutical industry does not only produce pills, it also invents new diseases! Of course, they want to sell as many pills as possible. Under the guise of information and education the pharmaceutical companies try to influence the media, the general public and the medical world by promoting the use of medication for ‘new’ diseases. Many mental or behavioural problems are all too easily labelled as ‘psychiatric disorders’.

  4. In bio-psychiatry the patient is often considered to be a thing that does no longer function and needs to be ‘repaired’ because of the economic and social order. In this kind of psychiatry the patient has ceased to exist as an individual. The bio-psycho-social model of yesteryear disappeared at the same time. Mental health is more than a combination of biology and chemistry.

  5. All things of value are fragile and defenceless. In our society it is winning that counts. Compassion is for softies, fair play for losers. Soft values are destroyed by this heartless logic.

  6. Poverty and mental problems often go together. People with mental problems can easily sink below the poverty line. Poor people will easily develop mental health problems. People with little job security and little or no control over the planning and execution of their tasks more easily suffer from depression. People who have missed the economic boat can easily be submerged in physical and mental distress.

Of course, these are not the only contributing factors. But by disregarding these social and structural factors, which affect our mental health, the exclusion of large numbers of people is perpetuated. We sacrifice them to the harsh logic of neoliberalism. Ignoring these factors condemns our mental health policy to ineffectiveness. But sitting down to meditate amongst the ruins of the social and mental health care system is not an option! Judging by our Gross National Product, our society is perfectly capable of redistributing wealth so that more people will be able to enjoy the benefits of our welfare state. During the campaign we also emphasize the complexity of mental health and psychosocial well-being. Simple answers or remedies will not suffice.


In our platform text we have drawn up a list of recommendations.

The following actions are part of our campaign:

  • wide distribution of postcards and posters centred around the six issues listed above;
  • the platform text will be signed by all organizations involved and by third parties;
  • a network of interested organizations and experts will be set up;
  • on 13th December 2006 the website www.gezondesamenleving.be will be activated;
  • a working group ‘giving meaning and mental health’ will be organized;
  • we will try to put pressure on policy makers.

If you want to know more, visit our website or contact us.
If you want to cooperate, please let us know.


For the team: Peter Algoet, HVV   Translation: Paul Massant

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