Mental
Between 1988, the year after Prozac was approved by the F.D.A., and 2000, adult use of antidepressants almost tripled.
By 2005, one out of every ten Americans had a prescription for an antidepressant.
IMS Health, a company that gathers data on health care, reports that in the United States in 2008 a hundred and sixty-four million prescriptions were written for antidepressants, and sales totalled $9.6 billion.
The March 1st edition of The New Yorker magazine featured a book review by Louis Menand. The article was called Head Case and the two welcome new books are Gary Greenberg’s “Manufacturing Depression” (Simon & Schuster; $27) and Irving Kirsch’s “The Emperor’s New Drugs” (Basic; $23.95)
I say 'welcome' because, in my opinion, psychiatry and pharmaceuticals are both corrupt and rogue industries.
They are joined at the hip and they cost our health care systems fortunes.
These two new books have a familiar and necessary argument: Psychiatry is guilty of taking ordinary human personality traits or experiences or conditions (sadness, anxiety, stress...) and pathologizing these into a lucrative business for itself and for the drug manufacturers.
The 'discovery' of the 'remedy' creates the disease.
Reading this article may save you or someone close to you a big mess of trouble.
2 comments:
Just wait, David. It shouldn't be long before bitterness is declared a disorder if not an outright disease. Thats right. If you get laid off from your job or go through a nasty divorce, you could be suffering from "Post Tramautic Embitterness Disorder". Look for it in the newest DSM.
I personally like the "Intense Explosive Disorder" which explains why some people have hissy fits or fits of rage. Treatment for such a rare condition? Yep, you guessed it. Valium.
By the way, the most commonly prescribed drug in B.C. is Tylenol 3. Lipitor is number two. Seroquel, an anti-psychotic medication, is number 7 on the list.
In North America in 2008 the most commonly prescribed drug was hydrocodone. The number 2 drug was lipitor. Out of the top 50 most commonly prescribed drugs, 10 of those 50 were antidepressants or anti-psychotics. That represents 20% of all prescription drugs prescribed in North America in 2008. That's 20% of a conservatively estimated 65 Billion $ industry. These stats were provided by the AARP.
What's somewhat interesting is that twice as many women are prescribed these drugs compared to men. Now you can draw many conclusions from this statistic, but it makes me wonder if maybe this is why women live 10 years longer than men on average. (That last statement was made with tongue in cheek)
You know, people are very busy, tired, and even boring now, but your ideas are so fresh and interesting that I'll surely read all of your posts! buy kamagra
Post a Comment