Are We Treating "Normal"?

A recent article in New Scientist written by Jessica Marshal raises several important points in the overmedicating of anti-deppresants in America.

According to the DSM IV, if you experience five of the symptoms below for two weeks or more, you meet the diagnostic criteria for clinical depression.

• Depressed mood
• Reduced interest or enjoyment in normal activities
• Loss or gain of weight or appetite
• Insomnia or excessive sleep
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness, or excessive or inappropriate guilt
• Indecisiveness or reduced ability to concentrate
• Agitated motion like pacing or hand-wrining, or physical slowing down
• Thoughts of death or suicide

However, according to the DSM criteria, if you have these symptoms after the death of a loved one you are not considered to meet criteria for clinical depression.

It's easy to see how doctors and patients are drawn into believing a diagnosis of clinical depression is necessary. But what determines normal human sadness (and how important is that sadness in life in order to learn and grow?) and clinical depression?

This raises many questions-- Some disagree with the DSM-IV saying that suffering the loss of a loved one and showing symptoms of clinical depression should be treated as such, while others believe that people that suffer a loss of a job, go through a divorce or an illness should also exempt people from the diagnosis.

The second of the two statements has me wondering, though, at what point are we going to exempt people from attaining a diagnosis of clinical depression? If we nix out loss of a loved one, loss of a job, divorce, and illness, we're left with few things that cause depression that many American's experience. On this train of thought we'll end up denying people of a diagnosis that may help them get the support they need. What's next? Disregarding people who are stressed in their jobs? Overwhelmed with school? What about people in abusive relationships? Who have been abused? How come these specific things aren't included in the original exemption from clinical depression?

Before we know it, no one will meet criteria and diagnosing clinical depression will be a thing of the past (though I can guarantee that the power drug manufactures hold over egger Americans and they their doctors will not let this happen, as a study done in 2000 showed that it is a commodity that brings in over 7 billion dollars a year just in the United States).

Is it safer to over-diagnose a mental illness rather than under-diagnose? Treat people who may be suffering from clinical depression, but are on the boarder of meeting criteria?

Are we treating normal human reactions to life? Are these reactions necessary for normal human development?

Many unanswered questions. Lots to think about for my paper. Hope to have some answers here, soon.

Depression Hurts, Cymbalta Can Help

Sounds great, right? Until you read the side effects including nassau and fatigue and many more equally crappy feelings. "Severe liver problems, sometimes fatal, have been reported. If you experience dizziness or fainting upon standing due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. This may happen especially

when first starting Cymbalta, when increasing the dose, or when used in combination with certain other drugs." and wait, that's not the least of your trouble. Scroll down to the last page where it reads: "WARNING-- In clinical studies, antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking...."

And this is JUST for cymbalta, and quoted directly from the cymbalta website (with lots of happy smiling people playing with children placed through out their add-- oh wait, yes, I said add, because they are SELLING you a product. This isn't a doctor in a white coat here recommending you check it out, this is a drug company's attempt at selling you happiness in a pill)

Now, what do the drug manufacturers forget to mention in their adds? Withdrawal. What about withdrawal from this medication? For many reasons, you don't just stop taking antidepressants cold turkey. It can be dangerous (and depending on the medication, life threatening), and at the very least, can make you feel terrible for not just days and weeks, but sometimes MONTHS after discontinuing the medication. Extreme fatigue, nausea, headaches, dizzy spells, change in appetite, insomnia, brain zaps, loss of concentration, irritability, oh the list goes on.

So here we are, happy (or not so happy in this case) American consumers looking for the next best thing since sliced bread to make us Fell Better and Be Happy and to Feel Good Again. And we sign up for this? Pretty much all the symptoms of depression are side effects of this medication. So why do I want to take this medication if it's going to make me feel like the suicidal piece of shit worthless use of space that I already feel like? I thought this was supposed to make me feel better.

But recent studies have shown that the amount in prescriptions in psychiatric medication has doubled in a decade, yet the amount of people being treated with psychotherapy along with medication is decreasing dramatically, and about 80% of patients getting treatment through medication were not even being treated by a psychiatrist. Why? Direct drug to consumer advertising rose from 33 million to 122 million, leading more patients to talk to their general practitioners about medications which they've seen advertised. Which here in lies the next obstacle. Often, insurance companies won't allow permission for GP's to refer patients to psychiatrists, so patients are left no choice but to see their GP to manage their psychiatric medication. And psychotherapy? Insurance is a pain about covering that, too. Mental health is on the back burner even though it causes more disability than any other medical condition. And no, that wasn't a typo, I did say "medical condition", NOT mental illness.

So the quest to happiness begins again.

Parents Give 9 Year Old Pot

I Give my Autistic Son Pot--

Don't know what to think about this, yet. Interesting article though. Can't wait to discuss it in my group tomorrow, I'll edit and add what we discussed.

Dancing in the Light of the Moon

So, as I've stated previously, while this blog is to chronicle my journey of writing a term paper about psychotropic medication in American popular culture, I have a strong tie to Eating Disorders, so I will occasionally post about new literature, DSM V updates, and art/photographs that I have done pertaining to Eating Disorders.

I remember talking to my psychiatrist about mental illness, and she asked me what I thought defined it. In short, I supposed that it's characterized by maladaptive behaviors. We were discussing how when we hear "mental illness" our first instinct is not to think "eating disorders", though anorexia nervosa is by far the number one killer in mental illness.

So perhaps eating disorders pertain more to this project than I originally thought. I will make a note of how to incorporate that into my paper.

A new art piece (my first ever oil painting): "Real Women (Dance)", inspired by those lovely nights of dancing under the moon in Tucson, Arizona where I did my residential treatment.

Diagnoses' Crossing the Line Between Normal and Abnormal... Wait, What's Normal?

Reading through "Better than Well: American Medicine meets the American Dream", and "Brave New World" in the library at school today, intermittently oohhing and ahhing when I found a quote that I was interested in (to which the man sitting across from me occasionally gazed upwards from his studies and looked over my way as I sunk deep within my books, hardly aware at all that he may be thinking I am a disturbance to him), I got to thinking about psychotropic medications (good thing! it is what I'm studying...) but more so than just that it's an anti-depressant, but that perhaps psychiatrists are treating what may be "normal". I don't have my quotes in front of me right now, but I will add to this blog later what I discovered in "Better than Well". Fascinating.

The example they used was shyness. What crosses the line between someone who is normally shy and someone who suffers from social anxiety? I don't know, honestly, as I'm not a psychiatrist nor am I anywhere near the point in my psychology studies to diagnose someone, but it did get the wheels turning.

So, I sat down tonight with this thought, about shyness and how much we are treating for normal behavior, and thought about all the famous people (artists, musicians, leaders) that suffered from a mental illness. What would they be like today if they were treated for their disorder(s)? I don't think we can ever actually answer that, but nonetheless, it's an interesting topic.

It is one more thing to add to my study of popular culture and American psychiatry.

Mother's Little Helper: Introduction of Valium in the 1960's Revolutionized the Use of Anti-Anxiety Medication

Valium (diazepam) was introduced by Hoffmann-La Rouche in 1963. It is one of the most commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications of all time, and as the Rolling Stones coined in their song "Mother's Little Helper" released in 1966, it's commonly known for the use among middle aged housewives in the mid 1960's.

Mother's Little Helper

Rolling Stones 1966

What a drag it is getting old

"Kids are different today"

I hear ev'ry mother say

Mother needs something today to calm her down

And though she's not really ill

There's a little yellow pill

She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper

And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

"Things are different today"

I hear ev'ry mother say

Cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag

So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak

And goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper

And two help her on her way, get her through her busy day

Doctor please, some more of these

Outside the door, she took four more

What a drag it is getting old

"Men just aren't the same today"

I hear ev'ry mother say

They just don't appreciate that you get tired

They're so hard to satisfy, You can tranquilize your mind

So go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper

And four help you through the night, help to minimize your plight

Doctor please, some more of these

Outside the door, she took four more

What a drag it is getting old

"Life's just much too hard today,"

I hear ev'ry mother say

The pursuit of happiness just seems a bore

And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose

No more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper

They just helped you on your way, through your busy dying day

"Drugs and Drug Culture"-- IntDis 2 Term Project

This blog, in large, is a place to dissect the topic of "drugs and drug culture"-- a group term project in which me and five other individuals in Dr. Rudinow's Interdisciplinary Studies class on Popular Culture in the United States make a collaborative effort to present the impact that drugs/medication have on American popular culture.

Now, my topic, geared towards psychology and psychiatric care, is in a world of its own compared to the four people who's term paper is on marijuana/legalization and one persons study of the history of illicit drugs in America. However, we are all in one group, therefore I found it necessary to try and incorporate our subjects into the same presentation (as is the assignment). I took the role as group leader in order to do so. Not that it would have been impossible for any of the others to structure this presentation, but perhaps, it might have been, and my topic would have been left by the way side because it is so different from the majority of my groups subjects.

Some interesting group statistics that I observed: out of a group of six people (myself included)

1. three of us have been on psychotropic medication to treat mental illness
2. two of us have been placed on a 51-50
3. two of us have been to treatment/rehab
4. two are heavy users of marijuana
5. one person is on medicinal marijuana
6. one person struggled with marijuana addiction
7. one person is a user of marijuana (with out specific conclusion on extent of use)
8. one person is an unknown

Now, I realize that the group statistics are not an accurate representation of medication/drug use in the United States, as this is the group who signed up for drug and drug culture. But I thought it was an interesting foot note.

Back to topic:

The start of the presentation (for which we are all responsible for 20 minutes of speaking/presenting leading to a total of about an hour and a half to an hour and forty five minutes of presenting) I will make a small introduction (to which we all add our own two cents) on how we determine what "normal" is. This is the platform for our topic.

I will then introduce my subject-- Psychotropic Medication in American Culture (which includes: the over-priscription of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications, over-daignosing of patients, etc.) To conclude this discussion, I'll look at statistics of how many are actually un-treated and make connections to stigmas, and even lack of proper insurance can lead people who suffer from mental illness (depression, etc) that seek self-medicating: illicit drugs in America.

My peer will take in from there and introduce her topic-- Culture/History of Recreational Drugs in American Culture. I'm excited for this: with clips from TV shows like "Addicted", "Intervention" and "Celebrity Rehab", we'll get to see inside the world that popularizes treatment, and to see the extent to which people are self medicating in America.

From there, another peer will look at the history of hemp/marijuana, from ancient to present, when it was brought to America and how it relates to present culture. In this section, a power-point presentation will take place.

It follows with the topic of current laws on marijuana-- talking about the upcoming ballot, discovering economic value of legalization, and a small peek into the prohibition of alcohol. He will bring in the upcoming ballot for people to view.

Then, we will look at the physiological effects of marijuana. Harmful effects. This person has yet to decide how they will present (but that's another story), so we will move on.

Finally, medicinal marijuana will be introduced-- why it's used, conditions in which someone can use it, myths about it, and some data. This will be represented by graphs.

whew! Looks good to me. I must admit, I was so frustrated that I be placed in "a group of stoners" but that is my stereotyping and judgment. In fact, the only person I'm struggling with is the "unknown". She happens to be the person who wanted Robert Crumb's brother on Lithium. Maybe I have preconceived notions about her, too.