Mass Psychosis In the USA? 542
Hugh Pickens writes "James Ridgeway writes in Al Jazeera that with over $14 billion in sales in 2008, antipsychotics have become the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the U.S., surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux. While once upon a time, antipsychotics were reserved for a relatively small number of patients with hard-core psychiatric diagnoses, today it seems, everyone is taking antipsychotics. 'Parents are told that their unruly kids are in fact bipolar, and in need of anti-psychotics, while old people with dementia are dosed, in large numbers, with drugs once reserved largely for schizophrenics,' writes Ridgeway. 'Americans with symptoms ranging from chronic depression to anxiety to insomnia are now being prescribed anti-psychotics at rates that seem to indicate a national mass psychosis.' By now, just about everyone knows how the drug industry works to influence the minds of American doctors, plying them with gifts, junkets, ego-tripping awards, and research funding in exchange for endorsing or prescribing the latest and most lucrative drugs. According to Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are 'simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one.'"
Americans are generally psychotic (Score:5, Insightful)
No surprise here!
Re:Americans are generally psychotic (Score:4, Informative)
and europeans are weak willed socialist groupies! yay we can all come up with fun adhominems!
It's not an ad hominem, it's an insult you moron. Oh, and "you moron" was also an insult. I'm not saying your argument is invalid because you are a moron, I'm saying you are a moron because your argument is invalid.
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Re:Americans are generally psychotic (Score:5, Funny)
It's exponentially annoying when people use it ad nauseum. It literally makes my blood boil!
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No need to despair! (Score:3)
There are a variety of anti-psychotic pharmaceuticals that can help straighten you on your keel. Talk to your doctor about Cannabidiol today.
* side effects may included drowsiness, hunger, giggling, Pink Floyd, intense focus, preoccupation with Bruce Lee, socialist leanings, belief in conspiracy theories, and enjoyment of life. If you experience any of these side effects, Cannabidiol may be just the thing for you.
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There are strict rules assuring the sanity of the requester and it has to be reviewed by a medical doctor.
The doctor has to report and register the request with the local coroner and the procedure will be checked by a commission.
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Parent deserves +5
What?! (Score:5, Funny)
det67vasdfe4 (Score:4, Funny)
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(I'm Amrecian)
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Please, sir, what language do Amrecians speak?
Elngish, of course.
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More like sad.
I Am Not Surprised (Score:5, Interesting)
I imagine it's pretty easy to become depressed in our society.
People who live a job rather than a life do things that advertising and media tell them to do or what other people in their situation do to escape. They turn to alcohol, nightclubs, meaningless sex*, gambling, smoking or anything that is meaningless or self destructive.
* Not that meaningless sex means anything to Slashdotters but I hope my point is made intellectually.
I imagine that these factors, plus the fact that everyone seems to be a big asshole these days contribute to people turning to drugs. Ultmately, people feel disconnected from other people, they are ostracized and bullied. Drugs don't solve problems. You do.
I feel powerless because of the following:
As Adam Smith said, agriculture is the root of all progress. Our society is unsustainable and growth seems to be on top of artificial markets. For example, digital markets like the domain market. Or on advertising.
Re:I Am Not Surprised (Score:5, Funny)
Why is it nobody is happier? (Score:4, Interesting)
Ask yourself.
Why aren't you happy? You (probably) have: electricity, abundance of food and water, computers, video games, (some) free time, a job, a loving girlfriend/wife? Money?
You're not happy because you cannot be you in this society.
It's that trite cliche that materials do not bring happiness but they are necessity for happiness. You cannot be happy about something before you have shelter, food and water. (Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs)
Our society lacks somethin that people need. Drugs really don't give that to you.
Arguing about happiness on Slashdot. Very odd.
Re:Why is it nobody is happier? (Score:4, Interesting)
It doesn't matter that you have food and shelter. These things don't provide you with real freedom. You're still restrained by society and forced to choose between several pre-determined, "acceptable" paths. If you do anything else, there will be social penalties. His famous collapse at the reigned horse was him weeping for mankind -- we're all shackled and bound, because if we weren't, we'd be too destructive.
We can't change our lives in order to become happy, so the next logical step is to change our brain chemistry. Maybe then we'll be slightly happier broken-in horses.
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Society has a few purposes, one key purpose is to reign in outlandish and destructive behaviour. You should work, you should follow the law, you should get an education, you should not beat up children, etc...
The other key purpose is mutual support. I don't need to know 50 trades to live, just one. I trade for everything else the other trades provide. Society provides, police, fire-fighters, courts, and many other services paid for collectively.
A healthy society stops you from doing evil, asks you to re
Re:Why is it nobody is happier? (Score:5, Insightful)
Also this idea is a self-fulfilling prophecy. A child who is abused and manipulated is far more likely to abuse and manipulate others as an adult. If you stick a kid in a classroom and humiliate and punish him for any deviance from "the plan", they will try to punish and humiliate those they find who have deviated because they have integrated a fear of deviation into their personalty in order to survive the humiliation and punishment of their teachers..
This is exactly why the wealthy send their kids to private school. Public school is for the sheep, private school the wolves.
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Arguing about happiness on Slashdot.
Now that makes us happy!
Re:Why is it nobody is happier? (Score:5, Interesting)
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
I can be happy in my circumstances but not completely content given all the things that are happening in the world. Call it idealism.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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IT attracts more people that are arrogant and think they are right more than any other industry. They don't want to solve a problem, they want to brag and be an asshole.
Our society is a massive committe of people trying to argue what is right and what to do rather than just doing it. Government, local councils, nothing actually gets done.
Privacy is what I want. If you don't give it to me, you deserve the consequences. It costs you nothing to give it. You don't need my address, to listen to my phone calls or
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Fuck me, I hate reading this shit. Going to post anonymously for this one.
Depression on the whole, is not induced by something like "Unchecked capitalism". While there is a subset of them which may have depression due to social circumstances, last I read, this was a very small subset, and it was argued that this might not be actual depression, or might be much lower on the scale.
Depression is mainly a physical problem you have. It can be induced by drugs, but for many, it's just your unlucky biochemistry. F
Re:I Am Not Surprised (Score:4, Insightful)
* Not that meaningless sex means anything to Slashdotters
If it meant something, it wouldn't be meaningless wouldn't it?
Believe it or not, I'm someone who engages in a lot of "meaningless" sex. The problem is not that the entire process doesn't have anything more "deep" then sexual gratification but rather that some people try to attach something else then simple gratification to it.
Just as the parent pointed out in his post, people use it as an escape and this is actually a good thing(TM) but the distinction the GP did not make is the difference between "an escape" and "living in a fantasy world". Having a vice does not automatically make one an addict, for example, a person who drinks is not automatically an alcoholic because they can be capable of stopping and exercise it at will, the ability to keep under the legal limit or to say "no thanks, I've had enough".
By the same token, there are people who can have "meaningless" sex without trying to attach anything to it. The same with all the other vices the GP listed, one can enjoy gambling, smoking, drinking or clubbing in moderation without actually becoming a victim to that action.
Re:I Am Not Surprised (Score:4, Interesting)
If I took the pill, I wouldn't be taking responsibility for what I feel.
What is the biological reasoning behind people who are depressed anyway? How can it be evolutionary? Surely it doesn't serve any good purpose besides feeding predators?
Perhaps it's a side effect of sapience? (of which sapience is a side effect of something else) Perhaps are consciousness and sapience is so unbelievably complex that it simply has 'failures' from times to time, overstimulation or sensitivity. In that case, that makes the pill more like a mechanical fix rather than a cop out.
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The adaptive rumination hypothesis (ARH) is a popular though highly controversial explanation for the evolutionary origin of depression.
Basically, depressed people ruminate. They think deep thoughts. They are overly self-critical, pessimistic, and lethargic. Of course, taken to these extremes, major depression is certainly a disadvantage in any context. But in moderation, there are some activities that might benefit from a less optimistic mindset:
1. Reflecting on one's self-worth ("Maybe I'm not strong enou
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That's crazy!
Spending like crazy too.
Sure (Score:2)
I can believe it. Have you looked at our politics lately ?
Re:Sure (Score:4, Insightful)
infowars.com
Just call it "Soma" ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I had the same comparison to "A Brave New World." I've been meaning to go back and read it again. Perhaps this should be required reading.
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I guess it is. Just nobody told them that it's a warning, not a manual.
What scares me is that some people actually took it as an utopian novel. 1984 is easy to see as dystopian, nobody wants to live in a world like that, but I actually know people who thought that the BNW looks actually quite nice...
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Soma (Score:3)
Expensive drugs? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe those drugs are just super expensive. A total number of consumers would be more useful.
Re:Expensive drugs? (Score:5, Informative)
Most brand-name antipsychotics can go WHOLESALE for 400-500/month, some are even more than that. Most cholesterol drugs are now on the $4 list, or have a $4 equivalent, except for lipitor (debateable whether or not it could be substituted for another statin because of all the studies..) which will be generic soon. Acid-reflux drug sales bottomed out as omeprazole (Prilosec) went generic and over the counter - the PPI class used to be the big money maker here because there were no generic alternatives. The new generation of antipsychotics are ALL still on patent except for Risperidone.
Also of note: "antipsychotics" are used to treat more than psychosis. They have been shown to be very helpful in several other psychiatric illnesses.. although I must say there are a *LOT* of cheaper/better alternatives for insomnia. These are not "off label" uses, by the way - many antipsychotics have been researched and gained FDA approval for more than one disease/condition. The class name is being substituted for the indication here to cause a stir.. "if you are on an 'antipsychotic,' then you must be psychotic!" A better name would be "selective d-2 receptor blockers with varying serotonin and anticholinergic receptor activity" but its a bit lengthy
The real headline here should be "PPI and Statin drug sales wiped out by generic replacements, antipsychotics still under patent. Also, some people havent heard about ambien yet."
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Exactly. One of the prescriptions I was one a while ago was 800/month without insurance.
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Everything medical costs 10x as much without insurance. If I were in charge I'd pass two laws:
1. Everybody providing a medical service must publish a price list.
2. The medical service provider must collect the same fee from everybody.
Go to the hospital without insurance. You'll get a $100k bill in the mail. Beg and plead, they'll send you an application for charity care. After submitting in triplicate every financial record you've ever had or not had and spending 100 hours on this, chances are they'll
Or Mass Over-Prescription... (Score:2)
My nonprofessional observation: (Score:2)
Thanks to drug companies' advertising, it seems a lot of drugs of different classes are overprescribed. I'm no M.D. but it doesn't seem that antipsychotics would do much good for depression.
My doctor had me on Paxil for a year or so after my divorce, they were hard to get off of and I'd wished I'd never taken them.
However, it sure seems like there are an awful lot of really crazy people here in Springfield, many of them violent, who should probably be on medication but aren't. I'm 59 and I don't remember ve
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Maybe those people are crazy because they're OVERmedicated? And further, because the only things the public health system will pay for on their behalf are shit? I had a county health official prescribe me a pill for respiratory function that it turned out the county health wouldn't pay for (this was a while back in my student days) even when petitioned... something that had been on the approved list just a month earlier, and something for which there was no more effective replacement.
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Maybe those people are crazy because they're OVERmedicated?
Zoloft + alcohol = crazy fucker.
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Insomnia. It's annoying, but it's not worth losing any sleep over.
Everyone wins (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Everyone wins (Score:4, Funny)
I did. He got rid of my cold but now I'm hooked on MSG.
This is surprising... why? (Score:2)
The "dumb" half of the country goes manic from the hype on the media, the "smart" half gets depressed by seeing what happening. One half swallows the hype and goes nuts over it, the other half doesn't and descends into hope- and helplessness.
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Interesting how the conservatives instantly get defensive and start snapping the moment you mention people swallowing media hype.
Well that explains (Score:2, Funny)
the popularity of Facebook and the iPhone.
The Century of the Self (Score:4, Interesting)
Check out the BBC show "The Century of the Self"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml
When you see that, it becomes pretty clear that the US population were unsuspecting guinea pigs in what's certainly the biggest experiment in mass psychology ever done. And that experiment FAILED.
Lack of exercise (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lack of exercise (Score:5, Interesting)
I started dealing with depression about 10 years ago. I have tried many drugs with little benefit but plenty of the worse results such as weight gain, sexual side effects, and mania. I have been hospitalized multiple times on both sides of the spectrum but nothing was ever stated as a physical cause other than stress.
Only in the past year was a test done to check for imbalances that may lead to depression. It turns out my vitamin D levels were very low. Many people cannot create or absorb vitamin D very well (especially a problem in winter). To treat it, I was told to take 5000 IU of D-3. Guess what, it worked! And within a few days and not 30 days like some drugs that must build up in your body. Now I take a lower dose (2000 IU) as supplement. If I feel a bit off mood-wise, I can take a dose and it makes a difference within 30 minutes. Also, it significantly cheaper. I can get a 100 doses of D-3 5000 IU for $5 or 200 doses of 2000 IU for $6. I would pay at least $25 for a 30 day supply of anything else as a prescription and that is only if my deductible was met.
Big pharma always downplays nutrition supplements (even studies that support it) as natural cures because they cannot patent it and charge $5 and up per dose. That being said, some of these drugs do genuinely help people with certain conditions. The problem is the lack of diagnosis to determine the cause of the problem and just trying to chase symptoms with drugs that create more problems than they may fix and may take a month before any benefit is seen. With depression, that is a long time to basically go without help and subjected to immediate side effects only to make a person feel even worse about life.
Exercise and diet is not downplayed because they know that people do not have the drive, resources and/or time for it be a factor in not needing to take their drug for whatever condition.
Forced (Score:5, Interesting)
Over a decade ago, a school psychologist noticed "odd" behavior in one of my daughters. Under the guise of "vigilence", they looked for people to put on drugs. My girls, in grades 1 and 3, were interrogated -- without my permissions or knowledge -- by a school psychologist, who diagnose them with various psychotic disorders. Why? Because the girls told wild tales -- one claimed to know how to fly, and the other told dark tales ala Poe and Lovecraft.
This bitch of a psychiatrist demanded that we drug our children, and began the process of forcing us to give the girls "medicine" (i.e., anti-psychotic and ADHD drugs), even when other psychiatrists said that my daughters were fine. When asked why she was so insistent on treating my daughters for something that didn't exist, the offending psychiatrist said:
"I've been taking these drugs most of my life. I know they're good for your kids."
Needless to say, I no longer live in Colorado, where this travesty was legal. My girls are intelligent, creative, productive young adults (with lots of quirks, like any smart person). Now that they're adults, they can chose what the do and do not put in their bodies.
American society is driven by a need by people's to feel like a victim, by fear, and by selfish greed. It is a recipe for disaster.
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Wow. That's horrific. I am glad you moved away.
I imagine psychiatrists get commission on prescribing drugs. I can't describe how wrong it feels the fact he demanded your children be prescribed too. It sounds like in his medicated state that he must 'convert' others to the same mental state.
Medicated ostracization.
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Re:Forced (Score:4, Interesting)
"we have been doing it like this for generations, it must be right", the foundation for religion. Tho these days also the basis for a lot of basic political thinking (see Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau being deemed basically infallible).
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How exactly were you forced? Was a court order involved? Or did the psych force pills down your daughter's throat? Or what?
I'm not doubting your story, I'm just thinking that kind of information could help other parents who find themselves in a similar situation.
Phenylalanine (Score:2, Troll)
ever read what goes into Coke or Pepsi diet drinks?
Phenylalanine
"ADD/ADHD, emotional and behavioral disorders can all be triggered by too much Phenylalanine in the daily diet"
Advertisement and propaganda (Score:2)
Forms of advertisement and propaganda that are commonly used in US, rely on subjecting the viewer/listener to extreme emotional pressure, as person's current state (not owning a product, acting in a manner different from one being prescribed) is portrayed as miserable, ridiculous or immoral. As a result the goal is achieved (some of affected people buy products and obey the norms of thoughts and behavior promoted by propaganda, to get rid of negative self-perception) however both those who comply and those
That explains some of the drivers I see. (Score:2)
Clearly a lot of drivers I see on the road are over-medicated.
It's not my fault!!! (Score:5, Funny)
I'm a victim! It's the environment! My mom was cruel to me! Hormones make me eat too much! Video games make me violent!
All I need is some understanding. And another pill.
Or I'll kill you.
Oh please (Score:2)
antipsychotics have become the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the U.S
Big Pharma forcing shit down our throats for profit. Just like every other corporation in this country: out for the bottom line. Clinical depression is a bitch. I saw first hand what these so called" thereputic drugs" did to my mother. Take this for the depression take this for the pain take this so your liver doesn't explode. Where does it end? When do the doctors stand up and say NO. Remember the Hippocratic Oath? Oh and the only reason these so called thereputic drugs are the top selling drugs is because
Off Label Use? (Score:2)
Anti-psychotics are an interesting class of drugs in their own right. That said, many drugs have uses other than their primary one.
http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?productid=8&pageaction=displayproduct [ahrq.gov]
As you can see there, some anti-psychotics are used to treat depression, OCD, and PTSD. Each of which, I believe represents a larger section of the population than people who are actually psychotic. I would not be surprised if the off label use in the
Not surprising! (Score:2)
Parents don't want to deal with their kids. They'd rather drug them and let the TV babysit. After all, being a parent is hard and a complete life changing event. If its not, you're doing it completely wrong. Most parents completely fuck up their children by trying to be their friend rather than their parent. And even then, a large number of parents are extremely poor parents because they don't want to be a good parent by ever telling their child, "no." A parent who doesn't believe in saying, "no", and stand
The single greatest epiphany of my life (Score:2)
Terminology (Score:2)
The headline is definitely misleading (Score:5, Informative)
TFA's headline talks about anti-psychotic medications, yet the article itself is about the entire class of psychoactive drugs.
Antipsychotics are a small sliver of the class of psycoactive drugs.
Antidepressants are psychoactive, but they are not anti-psychotic. The same applies for anti-anxiety durgs, such as Xanax, mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder (such as lithium), and for drugs used for Attention Defecit, such as ritalyn.
The problem is TFA lumps drugs used for depression and anxiety disorders in the same category as drugs used for treating schizophrenia.
In other words, the headline is misleading. Psychoactive != antipsychotic. The headline is purposefully misleading the reader into thinking that because someone takes a psychoactive drug, they are psychotic, and since americans take a lot of psychoactive drugs, Americans are psychotic.
This isn't a surprising headline for a news service whose primary audience isn't fond of Americans.
I'd expect to see the same sort of headline in a Scientologist publication.
Funny (Score:4, Funny)
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No, the drugs they mentioned by name are all classified as anti-psychotics even though they get used for other things. They did not include drugs classified as antidepressants in their numbers.
There is a great deal of crossover in uses including anticonvulsants, antidepressants and antipsychotics. In part that's because they really have no earthly cklue what the diseases are or how the drugs treat (or fail to treat) them. They just try one after the other until the patienmt stops complaining so much and cal
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Yes, these drugs were originally created to cure a specific disorder, however, it seems to me that many psychiatrists take a rather experimental approach to prescribing drugs;they try lots of different drugs on a patient until the patient stops complaining. To cure the side effects, they just add some more drugs to the cocktail. I've seen this happen to a close friend who's stared out with mild depression, was put on various psychoactive drugs, developed various other disorders (I believe due to these drugs
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You know, I'm not a fan of the pharma industry; but I have to admit they are stuck between a rock and a hard place - on one hand, they have products that really are wonders of the modern era. It takes decades and billions of dollars to research a drug, and even longer to get any sort of governmental approval. Charities they aren't.
What I can't excuse is the amount of money that's spent on "marketing" these drugs - often several times more than the cost of a drug's development and approval. That is, in my op
I'm a shrink and I can tell you why this is... (Score:5, Informative)
The expansion of antipsychotic use has nothing to do with the number of people being diagnosed with psychotic disorders. AFAIK, that number hasn't increased much.
The real reason is that over the past 10 or 15 years, antipsychotic meds (i.e. dopamine antagonists) have been used with increasing frequency in patients who do NOT have psychotic symptoms. ("Psychotic symptoms" basically means either hallucinations or delusional thinking). Many of these meds are marketed as "mood stabilizers" for bipolar disorder-- and the criteria for bipolar disorder are so broad and so subjective that just about anyone can be diagnosed with it. Indeed, one of the popular "screening tools" for bipolar disorder is something called the Mood Disorders Questionnaire, which is a bit like those Scientology quizzes that tells you whether Scientology is right for you. (It always is). The MDQ was designed by doctors who work for drug companies-- I've met one of them.
There are three other groups who tend to get lots of antipsychotics-- the elderly (especially in nursing homes), the mentally retarded, and people with plain old depression. The last one is actually the easiest to justify, since there are some studies which suggest that certain antipsychotics can work as adjunctive treatment for depression-- they have managed to get FDA approval for that indication. The first two-- elderly and MR-- are impossible to defend. They don't benefit the patient, they cause cognitive slowing and deterioration of functioning, and they increase overall mortality. Lilly in particular has been guilty of marketing their antipsychotic (Zyprexa) to nursing homes and claiming that it improves "behavioral disturbances of dementia". It doesn't, and they eventually had to pay out billions of dollars in fines.
Any psychiatrist with half a brain knows what's going on here. In the mid 90s all the new antidepressants (Prozac, etc) started to go off-patent and the drug companies lost a major cash cow. Ever since then, the drug companies have sought new indications for dopamine blockers, since they are mostly still on-patent, and most of them are fiendishly expensive.
Kinda Right (Score:3)
While of course it is a strong overstatement to say all of us Americans are insane in some way, it is true that Big Pharma and our simplistic views of life are turning us into mass consumers of psychotropic medications, legally.
In some ways, I was one of those the system tried to abuse. I say that not to inflame the argument- I know the people involved did not INTEND to do me harm. Luckily for me, I have good parents who resisted the BS. Way back in early grade school, they said I was having trouble and that I should be put on Ritalin, that I had ADD or ADHD. My mother, being smart person who can think for herself, looked at the situation and removed most of the processed sugar junk from my diet. I got sufficiently better that the matter was closed.
But wait! There's more! It turns out I am one of those unlucky few who actually was born bipolar! 35 years ago, we didn't really know these things, so I went without diagnosis, let alone treatment. And the argument still rages, can a child BE bipolar? (My case is a clear argument that, yes, a child can be bipolar).
And there's still more! Once I was properly diagnosed, by two separate, unrelated psychiatrists who were unaware of each others diagnosis (I call it the 'blind taste test method of diagnosis), I began treatment. Over a decade of trying this, that, and the other medication. You know what finally worked? Testosterone replacement therapy and vitamin-B complex, along with some mental trickery I do for myself. This is MY solution and not medical advice. But the idea is, they mostly want to sell you drugs, expensive drugs. You MUST take control and find the underlying cause for yourself! And you must be intelligent about it.
Which leads me to...
RANT ON
I don't see much hope these days. I work closely with the public and it makes me want to kill. It makes me want to remove the right to vote and breed. It makes me um... depressed... again. Americans want to blame an external source for their problems and take a magic pill to make it all better. I know this. I went through that phase of trying to find something outside of me that made me screwed up and I wanted an instant fix for it. Most Americans, it seems, don't get past that phase- ever. It's the immigrant's fault. It's my spouse's fault. It's my parent's fault. As I told an ex of mine many years ago, so the fuck what! You're an adult now. Act like one and figure your shit out; take responsibility for who you are today and make yourself better. Ask for help if need be, of course. I had to and it worked. My shrink helped me figure out the testosterone issue. She's one of the good ones.
So is Big Pharma really to blame? Or are they just capitalizing on our nature? That's a trick question. We are BOTH to blame.
RANT OFF
I apologize for the rant. This is a sore subject for me and working with the public the last several years has not helped! :) But try to imagine the conversation I have to have sometimes:
Me: I'm bipolar.
Them: Ya, so is everyone else these days.
Me: Yes, I know. It's being WAY over-diagnosed now, but I really am.
Them: Yep, they all say that too now.
If they only knew the real pain. The guilt of the pain my disease has caused others. Hell, they still wouldn't give a shit. Many of is Americans are too self-absorbed to notice. I wonder if there's a pill for that...
Re:bring on the trolls (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't we block foreign IPs from this website? Or at least foreign IPs posting as AC?
Can we block redneck bigots from this site? Or at least start Americans with karma -1 by default?
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And by your own post you are as much a Bigot if not more.
Try holding yourself to the same standard you demand of others.
Mod parent up.
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And while it would be a convenient explanation, the one that's probably more likely is that there is money to be made by selling drugs and hence there is quite some interest to call everyone who isn't "normal" by some arbitrary standard nuts and hence in need of drugs.
It's a bit like hypertension. When the sales for blood pressure lowering drugs were not high enough, we simply lowered the normal blood pressure ranges from about 130/100 to 120/80 and suddenly a lot of people were in dire need to lower their
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I sometimes wonder if when they cure one disease they invent another. And I mean invent, not discover.
Some of our neighbors have a three year old boy. He's been diagnosed with some kidney problem I can't even remember, let alone pronounce. And yet he's perfectly healthy.
Thirty years ago, you'd have just said he needs to pee a lot.
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I sometimes wonder if when they cure one disease they invent another. And I mean invent, not discover.
Some of our neighbors have a three year old boy. He's been diagnosed with some kidney problem I can't even remember, let alone pronounce. And yet he's perfectly healthy.
Thirty years ago, you'd have just said he needs to pee a lot.
Idiot. I suppose that you, from your vaunted position as a 'neighbor', can diagnose a disease condition ("some kidney problem") and immediately dismiss it because everything that medicine does is bad. Thirty years ago, someone with high blood pressure or diabetes would be ignored because there wasn't much that we could do about it. Now there is. The incidence of strokes and heart failure is decreasing - not as much as people had suggested - but it's decreasing. Thirty years ago diabetes was a death sen
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Erh... no.
WW2 was a direct result of WW1. The combination of feeling like they didn't really lose the war, or at least would not have lost it on the battlefield (seriously, the Germans were deep in France and Russia by the time they surrendered) if some politicians and schemers didn't "assassinate" the German military and very humiliating peace conditions (Clemenceau insisted in conditions that should render Germany harmless and could only hit deeply in the heart of a nation as militaristic and proud as Ger
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If you're a mentally sane person in this time and age, I guess you have to get insane from witnessing what's happening.
Re:bring on the trolls (Score:5, Funny)
That sounds a bit paranoid to me. Perhaps you should talk to your doctor. You could probably get drugs to help you with that.
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And even if drugs don't solve his problems, the right ones will solve ours, if used at at least LD50 levels.
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As an non-native American (family has only been here about 7 generations) I think it's not that far a stretch to say many American's are paranoid delusional at least when it comes to foreigners. It's probably something in the water making them crazy.
We can count them and see if we reach a couple hundred million, you can be '1'.
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It's probably something in the water making them crazy.
We must protect our precious bodily fluids from water fluoridation of our public water supply by communist spies. So I demand that the President launches a full scale preemptive attack against The former USSR, China, Berkley, and Harvard.
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Evidence & Problems (Score:5, Interesting)
The point is that it's evidence of overprescription, not of excessive psychotic behavior.
There is also a problem in the observations in the summary--notably, the mere fact that we are expanding our clinical definitions of psychological diagnoses is NOT a bad thing--the problem is when people treat them wrong. The good thing about expanding and re-working the definitions is that it lets you describe and identify conditions better in each generation than you did in the generation before, and maybe learn something more about how they should be best treated.
The problem is that almost nobody does real psychotherapy anymore (except for the filthy rich), so in most cases all people do is prescribe medication as if that would treat the problem. There are cases where it will, and there are more cases where it will treat the symptoms, but it often is very much the wrong approach. You can't sit down with someone and cure a psychological issue with a talking-to or folk medicine--they can be complex and very time-consuming and difficult for people to learn to live with or move past or adapt to the world in spite of--but conversations, activities, and the development of a support network in almost every case I have seen has made a bigger impact by far than the use of drugs.
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A big problem that results from this over-prescription is the fact that people will believe the way the drug makes them feel is "normal". These drugs are definitely strong enough to be felt and isolated as a cause, and so the uninformed patient will assume that the doctor found something wrong with me, and this pill is fixing it. This creates more demand for the product, which is great for the companies, but with the wide range of effects these drugs can have on different people and personality types, I dou
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A big problem that results from this over-prescription is the fact that people will believe the way the drug makes them feel is "normal". These drugs are definitely strong enough to be felt and isolated as a cause, and so the uninformed patient will assume that the doctor found something wrong with me, and this pill is fixing it. This creates more demand for the product, which is great for the companies, but with the wide range of effects these drugs can have on different people and personality types, I doubt it's good for the population as a whole.
The other problem it creates is a lack of empathy for those who really do have a mental illness... "Depression? Yeah I had a bad case of that the other day, but I took one of these and now I feel all better. Maybe you just need to take more pills?"
Maybe the scientologists, while a little extreme, had a point ;)
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The point is that it's evidence of overprescription, not of excessive psychotic behavior.
There is also a problem in the observations in the summary--notably, the mere fact that we are expanding our clinical definitions of psychological diagnoses is NOT a bad thing
Yes it is. If you're a hammer everything looks like a nail.
Research should be much more focused on what makes a person's mind healthy and resilient. But assuming that most of us possess the keys to our own growth doesn't fit with the economic model of the industry.
You're 'sick' but we can 'cure' you. And by they way, we need your MONEY. Always more MONEY.
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The problem is that almost nobody does real psychotherapy anymore (except for the filthy rich)
Psychotherapy [wikipedia.org] is a bunch of pseudo-science/medicine. Just what is "real" psychotherapy, anyways?
From the above link: "As early as 1952, in one of the earliest studies of psychotherapy treatment, Hans Eysenck reported that two thirds of therapy patients improved significantly or recovered on their own within two years, whether or not they received psychotherapy."
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Paying his bill.
Here in the US we don't have nearly as good medical care as say, Bulgaria, unless you're part of the ownership class.
You know, they say the health care system in the US is so bad it makes you crazy, which gives me a different insight into this story about psychosis in the US.
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I am on these class of drugs. For over 10 years now. When I was diagnosed I told my shrink some jibberish about aliens
I've always assumed that this is why the scientologists don't like mental illness being treated properly...
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You are probably one of the few correctly diagnostic persons on Anti-psychotics
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I'd rather see a big upsurge in the popularity of homeopathic medicine in that case. At least the money goes to mostly-harmless hippies, the side effects are fewer, and it's cheaper.
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Wrong
They do something. They bind to the receptors and stuff...
They may be called "placebos" because they don't "fix" the main issue, but they certainly change the chemistry.
It's like giving ulcer medication to someone with a broken leg.
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So? We're trusting articles about Iran from US news services, this is just a small leap of faith after that.
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*sigh* You're supposed to affix those performance enhancer to where your tool used to be when it still worked, not stick 'em up your rear!
Can't people read labels anymore?