Reflections on Institutional Corruption in Mental Health Policy Implementation: Global Insights and the Eastern European Experience

Existing evidence shows that mental health policies and services are especially vulnerable to ineffective and corrupt practices. Systemic obstacles, such as the overuse of the biomedical model, power asymmetries, and selective evidence, undermine both the realization of the right to health and the rights-based implementation of policies in practice. This paper draws on the personal experience of the authors alongside global insights to examine the relationship between institutional corruption and the right to mental health, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe as a bellwether. Following the societal transitions of the 1990s and beyond, prolonged psychosocial stress contributed to widespread self-destructive behavior and high mortality rates, particularly among rural, middle-aged men. In response, foreign consultants frequently advised governments to prioritize diagnosing clinical depression and prescribing new-generation psychiatric medications as the principal strategy. We argue that this narrow biomedical focus, reinforced by biased evidence, represents a form of institutional corruption: it distorts problem framing, entrenches biomedical dominance, sidelines community and social responses, and ultimately compromises the right to health. Recognizing and addressing these dynamics is essential to align mental health policy with rights-based, context-responsive care.