Buying Indifference, Selling Permission: A Formal Model of Mental Health Advocacy

32 Pages Posted: 2 Sep 2013

See all articles by Adam Hughes

Adam Hughes

University of Virginia

Lynn Sanders

University of Virginia

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

Mental health policy advocacy exhibits some ideological paradoxes. Among advocates, the rhetoric of consumer rights is frequently associated with service contraction rather than expansion. At the same time, advocates of increased provision often also prefer coercive treatment and are most restrictive in their view of the rights of persons with a psychiatric diagnosis. Thus, against expectations derived from other areas of social welfare policy - where rights advocacy accompanies calls for expanded services and spending - actors in the mental health policy arena form unlikely coalitions. Liberals tolerate spending cuts because this “buys” indifference and protects (negative) liberties. Conservatives tolerate rights rhetoric because this “buys” permission to abdicate social service spending. We develop a simple formal model to explain the strategic relationship of advocates who lobby for or against both government funding and the regulation of mental health consumer rights. We demonstrate that multidimensional advocate preferences result in an unexpected policy equilibrium, in which the rights of consumers may be conditionally protected as long as government also decreases spending.

Keywords: Mental Health Politics, Advocacy, Formal Models

Suggested Citation

Hughes, Adam and Sanders, Lynn, Buying Indifference, Selling Permission: A Formal Model of Mental Health Advocacy (2013). APSA 2013 Annual Meeting Paper, American Political Science Association 2013 Annual Meeting, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2300448

Adam Hughes (Contact Author)

University of Virginia ( email )

Lynn Sanders

University of Virginia ( email )

No Address Available

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