Created by Amanda Luchento

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Embrace of Medications ................................................................................................................. 1 The DSM .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Social Phobias & ADHD ................................................................................................................... 3 What Can Be Done .......................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction
sychiatry itself has become a heavily drug companyinfluenced edifice which often trumpets a highly speculative biological science (Regush, 2000). Since

the development of drugs intended to fix behavioral problems, there has been an influx of pill-happy physicians and widespread misdiagnoses. There are people who were given an overabundance of pills in order to treat the wrong disorders. There are also those who were diagnosed with a mental illness when they were perfectly healthy. Psychiatrists are prescribing highly addictive drugs for mental disorders that simply do not exist within their patients. These patients are the ones who are overcome with the uncontrollable force of an imaginary need for prescription medication and they are heading right to doctors office.

Embrace of Medications
he widespread embrace of biological remedies to lifes problems raises troubling questions for psychiatry. Paradoxically, according to the EFPIA,

pharmaceutical sales have soared in the United State during the past 20 years. (EFPIA, 2011) However, only half of those with severe disorders receive proper treatment. Clinicians and researchers disagree over what the priorities of the field should be and whom they should count as mentally ill. Are we over-treating the normal at the expense of the truly disturbed? Can we adequately distinguish illness from idiosyncrasy, disease from discontent? And are we allowing pharmaceutical companies and insurers define the boundary between illness and health? A recent survey estimated that nearly half of all Americans will suffer a mental illness during their lifetimes. Harvard Medical School professor of health policy Ronald Kessler headed the two-year study, which polled 9,000 adults across the country, varying in age, education level, and marital status (Pettus,

3/7/2011

Amanda Luchento

2006). The people conducting the research went from house to house doing face-to-face interviews using the World Health Organizations diagnostic mental-health survey to determine that 29 percent of people experience some form of anxiety disorder as well as impulse-control disorders and mood disorders. It was apparent that most cases began in adolescence, and that often, more than one disorder would strike simultaneously. Some people believe it to be chemical because of puberty and others blame it on Exogenous and Endogenous positions that discriminate different physical causes of mental illness. Illnesses due to degenerative or hereditary factors are endogenous where as chemical, bacterial or other toxic agents would be exogenous. (Gilbert) According to a Harvard professor of psychiatry and medical anthropology, Arthur Kleinman, he fears that including mild forms of anxiety and depression under an ever-widening umbrella of mental disorders will divert attention and resources from diseases like schizophrenia and major depression, which remain under-treated and stigmatized across much of the world. (Pettus, 2006) To receive a diagnosis of ADHD, a child must have at least six of nine symptoms of either hyperactivity or inattention. The vast majority of children with ADHD have at least six symptoms in both categories. (Attenton Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders; Kids with ADHD much more likely to develop substance abuse problems as they age., 1995)

D
The DSM

espite major advances in diagnosing and treating patients, there are still no hard evidence whether someone has a certain disorder or not. If

someone doesnt have clear biological markers, psychiatrists must rely on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Researchers have arrived at the syndromes listed in the DSM by tacking symptoms and symptom clusters, with particular attention to duration, age of onset, family prevalence, gender distribution, and response to treatment. (Pettus, 2006) The DSM is an amazing tool. In one book you have all the statistics for diagnosing many mental disorders. This wide spectrum of extremely useful information makes the DSM an invaluable asset to people in many fields of psychology. However, the DSM is rarely accurate. It deals in absolutes and mental disorders and those are never absolute. It is imposable to treat every case identically and that is where the knowledge and expertise of the user comes in. If used properly the DSM can aid and guide professionals to coming to the most helpful conclusions. If used incorrectly, it will quickly lead to oversimplification and neglecting to address the underlying problems. (King, 2010)

3/7/2011

Amanda Luchento

Social Phobias & ADHD

Its sad to know that doctors wrote some 29 million prescriptions for Ritalin and similar drugs last year in 2005 in the United States and that nearly 80 percent of them were for children. (Pettus, 2006) However, treatment for ADHD has also expanded into the adult world and claiming women are just as likely to take the drugs as men. There is also the case that college students around the country use stimulant medication for help when studying for exams. Its ironic that despite the growing evidence that these drugs may increase the risk of heart arrhythmia and stroke in some patients, the use of ADHD medications grew faster between 2000 and 2004 than the use of any other class of drugs except treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. (Pettus, 2006)

ocial phobia is a persistent, irrational fear that arises in anticipation of a public situation in which one can be observed by others. The person fears that the way

they act in public may be embarrassing. Unlike most phobias, the person tends to recognize it as excessive and unreasonable yet feels compelled by the dear to avoid situations in which public examination is possible (Zimbardo, 1992). People seem to be concerned with the factual error over the diagnosis of social phobia, which in just two decades seems to have gone from rare to common. People think that because of GlaxoSmithKline and its drug Paxil, it has put drugs like this out on the market and pushed it into the eyes of society, making the concept of shyness as a social disorder. (Carlominongbanez, 2000) ADHD has been shown to have the same controversy. Leon Eisenberg, Presley professor of social medicine emeritus, was among the first pediatric psychiatrists to conduct research into the biomedical treatment of ADHD in children and claimed, We tracked kids for 12 weeks, and the results were clear and made sense: if you reduce distractibility, learning should improve, yet subsequent long-term studies have shown that if you dont incorporate a psychosocial approach, with a focus on family and learning environment, the gains dont hold. (Pettus, 2006)

Medical Evaluation and Rating Scale Example: (Robin, 1998) ADHD + Conduct Disorder Withdrawn Somatic Complaints Anxious/Depressed Social Problems Thought Problems Attention Problems Delinquent Behavior Aggressive Behavior Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ADHD + Anxiety Disorders ADHD + Major Depression ADHD + 2 or more comorbidities Yes Yes Yes

3/7/2011

Amanda Luchento

What Can Be Done

ortunately, there are signs many Americans are disturbed by the evolution of psychiatry as a tool for behavior control. Two class-action lawsuits against

Instead of fearing mental illness and becoming hypersensitive to its symptoms, Americans should take a stand against the overmedication of our society and the subsequent pandemic misdiagnoses. This can be achieved through: publicly confronting psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies through lawsuits being more informed about mental disorders be more careful with whom you trust your mental health.

the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation (the makers of Ritalin), show the over-diagnosis of behavioral disorders in children and how unhappy parents are with it. Congress has also convened hearings in the past about whether Ritalin and Adderall are over-prescribed to children who are diagnosed as having ADHD. (Regush, 2000) Unfortunately, if nothing happens, anyone will be able to get their hands on the drug just by saying that they cant concentrate. It seems to be a problem that is the result of the fast paced millennium. With technology changing every day, how can we keep up with its fast paced movement? Conditions like depression and anxiety are complex and dont look the same in any two people. Someday we may find a genetic answer to what makes some people more anxious and/or depressed than others. However, treatment will still have to take account of experiences of the person as well as the social environment, and human subjectivity. At some point, we will have to look beyond immediate symptoms if we hope to address the reasons for so much anxiety and dysphoria in our society. (Pettus, 2006)

If our prescription-happy could make a change, then perhaps casualties such as children will become less common and those with severe illnesses can receive the treatment they really need through proper support and programs.

For more information on mental illness you can visit: http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_M ental_Illness/About_Mental_Illness.htm

3/7/2011

Amanda Luchento

Bibliography
adhd. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2011, from www.babble.com: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/adhd.jpg
Attenton Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders; Kids with ADHD much more likely to develop substance abuse problems as they age. (1995). Psychology & Psychiatry Journal . Carlominongbanez. (2000). Paxil TV Ad. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuUWXC9ru10

EFPIA. (2011, February 28). Retrieved March 1, 2011, from www.EFPIA.eu: http://www.efpia.eu/Content/Default.asp?PageID=608
Gilbert, P. Depression: The Evolution of Powerlessness. East Sussex: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. King, L. A. (2010). Experience Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

NAMI. (2011). Retrieved March 1, 2011, from www.nami.org:

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Mental_Illness/About_Mental_Illness.htm

no_drugs. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2011, from http://www.happyfamilysite.com: http://www.happyfamilysite.com/uploads/no_drugs.jpg

Pettus, A. (2006, July-August). Harvard Magazine. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from http://harvardmagazine.com: http://harvardmagazine.com/2006/07/psychiatry-by-prescripti.html Regush, N. (2000, October 17). Misdiagnosing Mental Illness. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from Feat Daily Newsletter: http://www.whale.to/v/regush6.html Robin, L. A. (1998). ADHD in Adolescents: Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: The Guilford Press. Zimbardo, P. G. (1992). Psycology and Life. New York: HarperCollins.

3/7/2011

Amanda Luchento