Poverty is more than just a lack of money; it’s an inescapable cycle. It wears people down, erodes their well-being, and then unfairly holds them responsible for their struggles. In Indonesia, recent government budget cuts in healthcare, education, and social welfare only deepen this crisis, making it even harder for working-class and poor communities to break free. Instead of addressing poverty as a systemic issue, policymakers and the state treat it as an individual shortcoming, urging people to “toughen up” rather than providing the structural support they need.
This is not a new crisis, nor is it unique to Indonesia. Research from around the world has long shown the deep connection between poverty and mental health. The Stirling County Studies (1959-1963) in rural Nova Scotia, Canada, found that social isolation and stress led to widespread depression. Similarly, the Midtown Manhattan Project, detailed in Mental Health in the Metropolis (1962) by Srole et al., revealed that only a tiny percentage of New Yorkers had good mental health, with poverty playing a significant role in poor outcomes. Yet, instead of addressing these structural issues, governments often resort to ineffective, surface-level solutions, like slum clearance or self-improvement programs, that fail to tackle the root causes. It’s like treating a broken leg with a motivational speech instead of a cast. Poverty cannot simply be educated or reformed out of existence without dismantling the conditions that sustain it.
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The vicious cycle of poverty and mental health
Poverty and mental health are locked in a cruel cycle. On one hand, financial stress, food insecurity, and unsafe living conditions take a toll on mental well-being (causation). On the other hand, struggling with mental health makes it harder to hold a job or build stable relationships, which pushes people deeper into poverty (social drift). Both forces feed into each other, making it nearly impossible to break free.
But why is this connection so often ignored? The answer is simple: because mental health is framed as a personal issue rather than a systemic one, obscuring the structural causes of distress and reinforcing policies that neglect poverty’s role in mental well-being.
In 2007, a study by Das et al. controversially argued that not having enough money (consumption poverty) wasn’t directly linked to mental health struggles. Instead, they claimed that life circumstances mattered more. But that’s like saying hunger doesn’t make people miserable; only the act of not having food does. It’s a ridiculous attempt to avoid facing the real issue: being poor is exhausting, degrading, and stressful.
Some researchers, like Mills (2015), go even further, arguing that poverty has been “psychiatrized.” Instead of fixing economic inequality, governments label poverty as a mental health issue that needs therapy or medication. This shifts the blame away from bad policies and onto individuals, making it easier to ignore the root causes.
Indonesia’s mental health system doesn’t just fail to address poverty; it barely acknowledges it. The country relies on biomedical models imported from the West, focusing on individual diagnoses rather than the larger economic realities people face. It’s like using a New York subway map to navigate Jakarta. It just doesn’t work.
The 2023 Mental Health Law was supposed to integrate mental health into the broader healthcare system, but it does nothing to address structural issues. Instead of ensuring access to affordable care and social protections, it reinforces a medicalized approach that treats economic stress as a personal weakness rather than a result of systemic failure.
But poverty isn’t just about money, it’s structural violence. The stress of financial insecurity, the humiliation of navigating bureaucracies for basic needs, and the exhaustion of precarious labor create an endless cycle of suffering. And in Indonesia, this cycle is only getting worse.
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Are we punishing people for being poor?
With the Prabowo-Gibran administration (God help us), things aren’t looking any better. Budget cuts to essential sectors like healthcare and education are deepening inequality. While the government boasts about economic growth, ordinary Indonesians are left behind. This so-called “progress” is built on increasing hardship for the working class.
Indonesia’s economic inequality isn’t new; it’s deeply rooted in feudalism that predates colonial rule. For centuries, wealth and land have been concentrated in the hands of a few, while the rest are trapped in exploitative labor systems. The Dutch only reinforced this hierarchy, integrating feudal structures into a capitalist economy that benefited the elite. Even after independence, these power dynamics remained, evolving into the oligarchy that dominates Indonesia today.
Today, the country’s economic policies continue to prioritize the wealthy, offering tax cuts and incentives to big businesses while making life harder for workers. The rise of informal labor, lack of strong worker protections, and continued suppression of unions ensure that economic inequality remains intact.
Meanwhile, budget cuts to education and healthcare make it even harder for the poor to escape poverty. Education, once seen as a path to upward mobility, is becoming increasingly inaccessible. And with healthcare costs rising, even basic medical care is out of reach for many Indonesians.
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Are we punishing people for being poor? The answer is clear. In Indonesia, poverty isn’t just neglected; it’s enforced. Government policies don’t just fail to help the poor; they actively make life harder, using economic hardship as a tool of control. By framing poverty as a personal failure, those in power deflect responsibility while keeping the elite richer at the expense of everyone else.
Real change won’t come from telling people to be more “resilient.” It requires dismantling the systems that keep people poor. It means demanding real social protections, fair wages, and accessible healthcare. And most importantly, it means refusing to accept the lie that poverty is an individual problem. Poverty isn’t inevitable—it’s a choice made by those who benefit from it. And that’s exactly why it must be resisted.
Samantha Dewi Gayatri is an MSc student at the University of Glasgow. Massively immersed in gender, decolonisation, and intersectional health. When not drowned in academic work, you’ll find her gaming, diving into thought-provoking video essays, scrolling Reddit, or enjoying “hope core edits” (and an unhealthy obsession with cream cheese).
