Mass psychosis in the US?

[Locutus]

Based on the ads I see on American TV stations, I'd tend to agree.


How Big Pharma got Americans hooked on anti-psychotic drugs.


Has America become a nation of psychotics? You would certainly think so, based on the explosion in the use of antipsychotic medications. In 2008, with over $14 billion in sales, antipsychotics became the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the United States, surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux.

Once upon a time, antipsychotics were reserved for a relatively small number of patients with hard-core psychiatric diagnoses - primarily schizophrenia and bipolar disorder - to treat such symptoms as delusions, hallucinations, or formal thought disorder. 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. 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.


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Mass psychosis in the US - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

[triedit]

Incredibly misleading. Almost to the point of criminal.

First, the "selling more than cholesteral medicine" is based on monetary sales, not per pill. Antipsychotics are more expensive than cholesterol pills so it seem logical that gross sales would be higher. Duh. And this from his own cited source.

Second, some of the drugs he mentions do dual duty--mainly, treating anxiety diorders. They are less addictive than the old school anxiety meds like vallium and xanax. So increasing thier use in that realm is a GOOD thing. They can also be used to treat tourettes, stuttering, and eating disorders. Rispiridone is ONLY used for real psychosis, not "depressive illnesses" though so I question that that one is a valid example of "overuse". Abilify is also sometimes an add on for folks who have major depression (without the bipolar element) when thier regular antidepressents just aren't cutting it.

Third, his most used reference is an op-ed site with the subtitle "A site for pissed-off progressive old folks (and future old folks)…because we're not dead yet." Far out. I'd so use that in my, like, next research paper dude....

Fourth, the reference to the "jump" in SSDI (Social Security Disability) matches exactly with the baby boomer generation turning 50--which is a significant time for psychosis to show up. Not to mention depression. And on the high end, the boomers are old enough for altzheimers and dimentia. Of COURSE there is an increase.

Now, Im no fan of big pharma, and the use of these meds in kids is plain wrong (here's a REAL news source: Anti-psychotic drug use in kids skyrockets - Health - Kids and parenting - msnbc.com ) But that doesn't mean that Americans are psychotic. It means the parents are letting thier kids be medicated by general practitioners rather than psychiatrists. Why? Because most insurance only has limited coverage for mental health (if any--including in Canada) and most folks can't afford a specialist. Also because some doctors are dicks.

I really like Al Jazeera, and I note that this is an opinion piece so I won't let it stop me from reading the site. But seriously, what a shitty article.