This very funny video really shows our culture's rush to pathologize normal human emotions, make everything a disease, and find a pill for every ill. We really have bought into the old DuPont slogan "Better Living Through Chemistry."
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Be A Real Pain - It Could Save Your Life!
If you or a family member are hospitalized, you need an advocate who is not afraid to be considered a pain in the ass. It is literally a matter of life and death. Check out this link.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Psychotherapy Effective in Treating Depression
Yet another study indicating the value of psychotherapy in comparison to medication: As effective in the short-term, more effective in the long term. And, of course, no side effects. So, why is psychotherapy so poorly reimbursed by insurance companies and generally ignored by psychiatry? The average reimbursement for psychotherapy has decreased since 1985, not in relative terms but in actual dollars. Do you know any other profession that makes less than it did in 1985? You? Your plumber? Your mechanic? Your physician? I didn't think so! Insurance companies maximize profit - that's their objective. Psychiatry has abandoned psychotherapy for one reason - you can make a hell of a lot more money in four fifteen minute prescription sessions than in a single one hour psychotherapy session. See the second link, below. The reality is that psychiatrists don't get much training in psychotherapy any more because the emphasis is medicate, medicate, medicate. So, why is this important to anyone but psychologists and other psychotherapists? For a couple of reasons, I think. One is scientific and one is social. To shift people away from proven, effective treatment is to deny patients the most efficacious treatment in the long run. The social reason is more insidious. There's an old saying that when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. When the only treatment you are willing to employ is medication, everything - every human emotion, behavior, problem, difficulty - becomes a disease. Hence, the epidemic of various diagnoses I've alluded to elsewhere on this blog. Telling people that their problems are all diseases and what they really need is the latest heavily advertised drug is disempowering and disenfranchising. People are taught and then believe that they have little influence and power over how they feel, act, and relate - it's "my bipolar," "my depression," "my anxiety," etc., making me feel or act this way. This ignores the science and defeats the spirit, creating an even greater need for more medication. And we wonder why health care costs are spiraling out of control!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Denying Care to Brain Injured Vets
It's easy to put a Support Our Troops bumper sticker on the back of your car. It feels good and costs nothing. Here's what costs: paying for the long term treatment and care for service members suffering from traumatic brain injury. That requires - brace yourselves - taxes. In the frenzy undertaken by House Republicans to make the world safe for corporate socialism, lots of people suffer. The poor. The middle class. And the men and women we send into harm's way. Tricare, the mangled care - oops, managed care - organization that insures military personnel, veterans, and their families is refusing to provide the kind of care that has been repeatedly shown to bring about the best recovery for brain injured vets, cognitive rehabilitation therapy. Why? Well, it's expensive so they contracted with a private consultant to say more study is needed despite the overwhelming evidence for its efficacy. Want to do something to really support our troops? Write or call your Congressional Representative and US Senators and urge them to demand that Tricare provide the treatment our service members need and deserve! Please pass this on.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Antidepressants Not Effective for Minor Depression
Most people who are depressed experience minor depression (though it never feels "minor" to the individual.) Minor depression is a dysphoric mood that leaves the person unhappy most of the time but does not significantly impair day to day functioning. The vast majority of prescriptions for antidepressants are written for minor depression, costing the health care system and, ultimately, all of us billions of dollars. As this review indicates, antidepressants are no better than placebo for minor depression. i.e., they don't help. They do enrich the pharmaceutical companies so don't expect the science to change the practice.
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