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How Far Is Marketization Responsible for the Epidemic Growth of Clinical Depression? A Study in Kolkata, India

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Marketization

Abstract

It has often been claimed that pharmaceutical companies adopt unethical means to grow the market for antidepressants, with lavish gifts, conference supports, foreign travels for prescribing medicos, as well as institutional corruption by influencing the criteria for diagnosis of mental illnesses. In this paper, we use in-depth interviews using grounded theory approach to explore the issues around marketization of antidepressants in Kolkata, India, seeking a deeper understanding of the factors that have led to the epidemic growth of clinical depression. Initial results show that marketization is not the sole factor responsible for this phenomenon. Socioeconomic infrastructural issues like stigma around mental health, inability to afford psychotherapy, glaring shortage in licensed healthcare professionals along with Bourdieusian power issues that put pharmacotherapy at an advantage over psychotherapy drive the unnecessary over-usage of medicines. We also discuss issues related to prestige hierarchy in medicine and its consequent effect on diagnosis of mental illness. We propose a model based on our understanding of factors that drive over-prescription and undue reliance on antidepressants.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘5 marks gone’ means that usually there are written examinations that are evaluated out of 100. Of this, only 5 marks would be lost if they do not study topics related to psychiatry.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marketing and Social Innovation, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, India

    Paromita Goswami

  2. Psychology, Calcutta University, Kolkata, India

    Anindita Chaudhuri

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  1. Paromita Goswami
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  2. Anindita Chaudhuri
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Correspondence to Paromita Goswami .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Marketing Department, XLRI—Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India

    Himadri Roy Chaudhuri

  2. Marketing Department, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Russell W. Belk

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Goswami, P., Chaudhuri, A. (2020). How Far Is Marketization Responsible for the Epidemic Growth of Clinical Depression? A Study in Kolkata, India. In: Roy Chaudhuri, H., Belk, R. (eds) Marketization. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4514-6_13

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