In closing, we will suggest two prerequisites that should be met before any legislative amendments are considered.
The first prerequisite would consist in countering systemic disinformation and educating the public, various stakeholders and the media about rights, recourse, mental health and psychotropic drugs.
To achieve that, it would be important to provide education on mental health by using such publications as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM. We also suggest providing critical training on the effects of psychotropic drugs. In addition, we are trying to extend the vision of mental health to stakeholders other than psychiatrists, such as sociologists, neurologists and other specialists, including, of course, individuals who are living with or have lived with mental health issues. This is also a matter of respecting human rights.
There is another prerequisite, which is also very important. The government should try to affect social determinants before proposing any amendments to the law.
WHO defines social determinants of health as follows:
The social determinants of health are the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, and the systems put in place to deal with illness.
We think that dealing with causes is often more effective than dealing with symptoms. For instance, changes to employment insurance will have certain effects on the workers' mental health. We think that the government should try to affect social determinants.