TY - JOUR

T1 - Invisible minds

T2 - The dominant wellbeing discourse, mental health, bio-power and chameleon resistance

AU - Elraz, Hadar

AU - McCabe, Darren

PY - 2023/5/31

Y1 - 2023/5/31

N2 - The dominant wellbeing discourse (DWD) in neoliberal economies can be understood as a form of bio-power that presupposes healthy individuals. It seeks to produce subjects who take responsibility for their wellbeing and, in this way, render themselves productive. Drawing on interviews with individuals who volunteered a diagnosed mental health condition (MHC), we explore how they resisted the negative associations with MHCs through making their conditions invisible. Hence they sought to blend in and make themselves visible as ‘normal’, well, healthy, responsible, productive subjects. Although we call this chameleon resistance it is bound up with consent and compliance as it reproduces the DWD and negative associations with MHCs.

AB - The dominant wellbeing discourse (DWD) in neoliberal economies can be understood as a form of bio-power that presupposes healthy individuals. It seeks to produce subjects who take responsibility for their wellbeing and, in this way, render themselves productive. Drawing on interviews with individuals who volunteered a diagnosed mental health condition (MHC), we explore how they resisted the negative associations with MHCs through making their conditions invisible. Hence they sought to blend in and make themselves visible as ‘normal’, well, healthy, responsible, productive subjects. Although we call this chameleon resistance it is bound up with consent and compliance as it reproduces the DWD and negative associations with MHCs.

KW - Bio-power

KW - discourse

KW - identity

KW - invisibility

KW - mental health

KW - power

KW - resistance

KW - subjectivity

KW - wellbeing

U2 - 10.1177/13505084221145580

DO - 10.1177/13505084221145580

M3 - Journal article

VL - 30

SP - 490

EP - 509

JO - Organization

JF - Organization

SN - 1350-5084

IS - 3

ER -