The United States of Zombies – Overmedication
Welcome to the inevitable attempt at creating a unified world whose population will maintain the same characteristics and traits. A civilization medicinally altered to conform to the normalcy of an “acceptable” society; where attention, anxiety, depression and any other mental disorder known to man have no name. Welcome to the United States of Zombies.
Up until the last 100 years the world has been able to comply with the good, the bad and the ugly without administering a chemical remedy. What is a society without character? Is it really a mental condition that needs to be treated or Mother Nature’s intention for the “disease?” One cannot have the perfect mundane. Medicine such as Prozac, Adderall, Ritalin, Zoloft and other mentally prescribed drugs have managed to strip an individual entirely of their persona. Does our world really want everyone to be the same? Instead of dealing with the “psychotically less fortunate” we shove a pill down their throat? This is an unnatural approach that can lead to long term possible side effects. Symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea, head-aches, constipation, stunted growth and unexpected deaths [1] have occurred.
There has been an outstanding surge in the usage of psychotropic drugs among children and adolescents.Intensifying our fears of child drug addiction.The United States estimated number ofoffice-based visits by youth that included antipsychotic treatmentincreased from approximately 201,000 in 1993 to 1,224,000in 2002 [2]. Spending on drugs to treat children and adolescents for behavior-related disorders rose 77 percent from 2000 to the end of 2003 [4]. Sudden deaths [3], stroke, and myocardial infarction have been reported in adults taking stimulant drugs at usual doses for ADHD. Besides a series of surveys and questionnaires based on the current patients behavior there is no specific test that can be done to verify mental illness.There are no blood tests or brain scans that can prove any of these so called mental disorders actually are a disease. Conditions like ADHD remain labeled as “controversial” conditions, in other words subjective theoretical mental disorders.
The unprecedented number of misdiagnosis issued with unnecessary prescriptions is uncalled for [5]. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, over 30 percent of studies conducted on antidepressant drugs and their effectiveness remain unpublished [6].What is the drug industry hiding?The mere fact that these medications simply don’t work, yet we must continue their consumption? All the while subjecting ourselves to the unnecessary side effects.
Physicians and medical facilities pro-drug implementation can be traced back to the drug industry and its promoting collaborators. Psychiatrists have been trained to readily offer chemically induced remedies for any subsidiary mental occurrence. Parents as well as children are now being treated for metaphysical disorders such as attention deficit; claiming this so-called disease runs in families [7]. Citizens want a reason for certain behaviors and issues. A scapegoat per say, rather than believe that the problem may be from within.
Children displaying signs of behavioral apprehension are misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorder when decline in concentration could be induced by other factors such as bullying, familial stress, or simple lack of sleep. So, what exactly is this telling us? That perhaps parents would rather come up with excuses for junior’s conduct and drug him rather than deal with “what really may be bothering him.”
Interpersonal therapy is quickly being replaced by drug therapy. Psychologists are referring more and more patients to psychiatrists for antipsychotic prescriptive remedies. Adverse effects from psychoactive medications have been known to cause suicidal thoughts and anger emergences [8]. Although drug therapy may seem to be a faster solution, it does not have any permanent effect and must be taken on a daily basis. Ongoing therapeutic treatment through a trained psychologist would help develop and moderate behavioral conditions overtime.
The public should educate themselves about mental disorders, find a means toward understanding it and proper ways to approach candidates diagnosed with such conditions. Survival of the fittest no longer exists. A disruption in the chain of life has been forced upon us, causing a chemical imbalance in our lives.
The choice is ours, we can choose to accept pro-medication and mold ourselves to fit society’s standard of the average Joe. Or we can empower ourselves to make a stand and deal with the ever so pretentious “predicaments” that we have been “condemned” to; thus building the unique characters that we were meant to be.A great potential leader awaits!
[1] National Alliance Against Mandated Mental Health Screening and Psychiatric Drugging of Children
[2] Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:679-685.
[3] GlaxoSmithKline 8-4-2006 Important Prescribing Information.
[4] Milt Freudenheim 5-14-2004 Behavior Drugs Lead in Sales for Children
[5] The Great Misdiagnosis Dr. Haber
[6] The New England Journal of Medicine 1-17-2008
[7] Medco Health Solutions news release 9-28-2006
[8] Mike Adams 8-22-2004 FDA antidepressants cause suicidal tendencies
L. A. Breaux
Too true. One of my pet peeves is the reliance on drugs in order to ‘handle’ behaviours – mainly because I have a feeling that I was lucky enough to be in school in the seventies and early eighties therefore I was considered ‘spirited’ and the teachers adjusted for my little quirks – if I would have been in school in the later eighties and up I would have been without a doubt had so many labels plastered to my head with the ‘appropriate’ meds to counter those labels. In my previous career in Social Services what I encountered were young adults, who no longer in school did not get the medications, lost in society because they had no problem solving skills because the drugs had always solved everything. I don’t really believe in the prevalence of ADD or ADHD, as you stated, it’s widely misdiagnosed because its too damn easy.