Psychiatry – Practice of Medicine or Practice of Marketing?
Are we all entitled to be happy? If you are not, is a pill the answer?
Social anxiety disorder, depression, bi-polar disorder. It seems that these diseases now plague the American populous. The statistics behind psychiatric diseases and use of psychotropic drugs are staggering. Adult use of antidepressants almost tripled in the US between the periods 1988-1994 and 1999-2000. Between the term of 1994 and 2010, there was a 4000% increase of the diagnosis of bi-polar disorder in children. By 2007, antidepressants had become the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. Psychiatric drugs fuel a $330-billion industry without a single cure.
Unlike diagnoses for medical conditions, psychiatrists do not have blood tests or any other biological tests to ascertain the presence or absence of a mental illness. Psychiatrists rarely conduct thorough physical examinations to rule out medical conditions. – The Citizens Commission on Human Rights
The question arises: how much of this rise in mental diseases is driven by psychiatry and pharmaceutical industries? How many diagnoses are just people experiencing normal human emotions – yes, negative or unpleasant emotions, but distinctly human nevertheless.
This is a fairly lengthy but thorough documentary about psychotropic drugs and the for-profit industry behind psychiatry. It describes the myth of the tag “chemical imbalance” used to diagnose psychiatric diseases without any physical tests. It examines the role that the FDA has taken in speeding up the drug approval process. The video also examines the big business of psychotropic drugs, reporting that top prescription drugs generate revenues between $7 to $11 million per day for each major drug. It reveals how pharmaceutical companies market the same exact drugs under different names, for different psychotropic and physical conditions.
Many of us have taken psychotropic drugs at one point or another, and if you have not, it is likely that you know of at least a couple of people that take psychotropics on a regular basis. Yet, there are other solutions, methods, approaches, that have been proven to help with mental ailments. Eating a healthy diet made up of raw and natural foods. Turning to ancient practices such as meditation or yoga. Individual or group counseling. Lifestyle changes. Acupuncture. The list goes on. Perhaps a pill is not necessarily the answer.
Resources:
Artificial Unhappiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class, by Ronald William Dworkin
Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide, and Crime, by Peter Roger Breggin
Your Drug May Be Your Problem, Revised Edition: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications, Peter Roger Breggin
Sources:
http://www.cchr.org/cchr-reports/psychiatry/introduction.html
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