FACING DEPRESSION: NEOLIBERAL STANDARDS OF RECOVERY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Employing the social constructionist view of illness and disability, and the Foucauldian analysis of neoliberalism regarding governmentality and biopolitics, this thesis aims to critically analyzes the media representations of depression and recovery in Singapore’s neoliberal context. To address the topic, I conduct textual analysis of Facing Depression, the first documentary series that seeks to depict mental recovery in different social groups in Singapore. This thesis offers three main arguments. First, depression is consistently portrayed within the framework of illness and disability. Second, this representation of depression is intimately related to an embodiment of neoliberal logic in recovering from depression by focusing on medicalization to treat depression, as well as characterizing the recovering self and identity in neoliberal rationality. Last, the view on this embodiment of neoliberal standards in the representation of recovery structurally reinforces the structure of neoliberal normalcy in the Singaporean context which is subtly presented through the promotion of positive affects, the normalization of institutional measurements in mental health, and the naturalization of personal progress for Singaporean citizens. Worth noting is that the construction narrative of personal progress also subscribes to dominant ideologies of the neoliberal Singapore, for instance, meritocracy, pragmatism, kiasuism, and the pro-family mentality.