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Most Annoying Psychological Disorder. (pg. 5)
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| Project-K |
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
How much good has the medicalization of mental problems actually done on a broad scale?
It seems like if modern treatment with drugs were so much more effective than trying to deal with such problems in other ways, then we could point to some broad trend such as a reduction in suicide rates or in the number of crimes committed by those with diagnosed mental illness, since vastly more people are now being diagnosed and treated. But as far as I know, no such positive trends exist.
Obviously you could point to specific cases of people helped by drugs -- I know plenty of them myself -- just as others could point to specific cases of people harmed by them. But that doesn't address the question of the overall effect of the "medicalized" paradigm.
[Edit: I'm not saying that drugs are never right or that people can simply wish their problems away. I'm questioning whether mental illness should be seen as analogous to bodily diseases or disorders, and whether the cavalier attitude of "throw a drug at it" is the right one.] |
Over-medicalization and drug prescription are two different issues. Drugs have a place within multi-faceted approaches that consider all factors of causation rather than narrowly defining everything as either exclusively psychological or biological. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
I'm questioning whether mental illness should be seen as analogous to bodily diseases or disorders |
It doesn't really work that way, despite my ironic post. Thomas Szaz advocates for this kind of view (that mental diseases should only be considered "diseases" insofar as there's a damage to the brain of the patient, or something like that), but his views are really unorthodox.
edit: I quoted more than I meant to. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by idoru
This is why I see drugs for such scenarios as things that should be prescribed on a case-by-case basis, i.e., "Does this person really need what I'm giving them? What else can be done if not?" |
I feel the same way. Unfortunately, that's often not the case. Some doctors will write out a prescription after having talked to a patient for fifteen minutes -- I know this from experience. What's really tricky is that the nature of mental problems makes it more difficult to hold a doctor accountable for such behavior, even when something goes obviously wrong, since the result of "bad practice" in such a case is some action rather than the quantifiable progression of a disease or the failure of some physical system. How do you prove that a careless psychiatrist "caused" someone's mental illness to worsen when it isn't even established what causal factors make people develop that illness in the first place? I think this means that doctors treating mental problems will always have a lower incentive to be cautious than doctors who treat physical ones. |
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| wrzonance |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Nah, they're just lazy bastards. Just like those stupid wimps claiming they've got cancer. "Boohoo, my cells have mutated and they're now doing stuff they aren't supposed to do! Halp!". Aw, come on, get the hell over it and tell your god damn cells to behave! :rolleyes: |
Where is that cancer anyway?
Take that cancer! |
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| iella |
borderline anorexics with tight jeans and meboots for the win! :p
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by iella
borderline anorexics with tight jeans and meboots for the win! :p |
So, which idiot are you? |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
How much good has the medicalization of mental problems actually done on a broad scale?
It seems like if modern treatment with drugs were so much more effective than trying to deal with such problems in other ways, then we could point to some broad trend such as a reduction in suicide rates or in the number of crimes committed by those with diagnosed mental illness, since vastly more people are now being diagnosed and treated. But as far as I know, no such positive trends exist.
Obviously you could point to specific cases of people helped by drugs -- I know plenty of them myself -- just as others could point to specific cases of people harmed by them. But that doesn't address the question of the overall effect of the "medicalized" paradigm.
[Edit: I'm not saying that drugs are never right or that people can simply wish their problems away. I'm questioning whether mental illness should be seen as analogous to bodily diseases or disorders, and whether the cavalier attitude of "throw a drug at it" is the right one.] |
Well, I know it's a rhetorical question of sorts, but it's really quite impossible to tell just how our "prescription age" has really affected us in general as there's truly no simple way to determine what has been prevented if it never happens. answer, I know.
I'm sure everyone can relate prescription nightmares; for example, I personally believe that the over-prescription of Ritalin to kids is one of the most epidemic breaches of creativity there's been - I mean, who's to blame? Teachers for recommending it, Doctors for prescribing it far too wantonly or parents for allowing the opinions of others to bring harm to their children? Just seems to me that the advent of psychotropic drugs on such a massive level is detrimental in the sense that it brings us farther away from whatever natural state lead to their creation or need in the first place.
But with that very same thing in mind, as society progresses, refuse accrues, commercialization sends neon waves through everyone, pollution erodes whatever "natural state" we could possibly inhabit, the human creature has changed irrevocably and with this development comes a whole new slew of both defects as well as the very same uniqueness that makes us complex and makes us understand with views detached. It's such a delicate balance and we have a lot to learn still, I think - who knows what we've been missing out on and who knows what we've trampled beneath our feet? |
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by idoru
You guys are including yourselves, right? I feel the same way and tend to include myself in those sentiments. |
No, lol. I love myself and tend to think that I have more common sense than everyone.
/superiority complex |
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| Vivid Boy |
| I have a spider man complex, i tend to think everything would be funnier if i cum in my hand and whip it in someones face...SPIDERMAN! |
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by Vivid Boy
i cum in my hand and whip it in someones face. |
That happened in Silence of the Lambs. :o |
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| Vivid Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
That happened in Silence of the Lambs. :o |
but did he yell out SPIDERMAN after and make a run for it |
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| Silky Johnson |
| No, he yelled out "I can smell your cunt." |
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