Most of us feel pressure every day of our lives. It can be severe at times but we usually have developed coping mechanisms or tools to help elevate the feeling of being overwhelmed. What happens when those tools fail? Who do we look to for guidance to help out of this hole? These questions should be easy to answer but they are not. A physician or a psychiatrist should be our first line of defense but it is becoming more and more clear that they are merely part of a vicious cycle. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is considered the “bible” to professionals in the medical industry defines depression in many broad categories. The category that I chose to focus on is Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD is very broad and encompasses many types of reasons for depression to occur such as alcohol or drug abuse, death of a loved one and stress. All of us will feel depressed or sad but when that starts to interfere with daily life events for weeks at a time it changes to a major disorder. (U.S. National Library of Medicine) The treatment options that are recommended for this are Cognitive Behavior Therapy and medication. This is where ethical areas really begin to get murky.
When I began research into this topic, every website that I came across had advertisements for prescription drug treatments attached. “Feeling blue? Call your doctor today and try Cymbalta. Ask for your free 30-day trial”. If I was feeling depressed I would definitely want my problems taken away with a little pill, I should trust what the doctors are telling me right? In the article, What’s a Mental Disorder? Even Experts Can’t Agree, Allen Frances talked about his idea to put Asperger’s in the DSM because there currently wasn’t a category to deal with a less severe form of Asperger’s and then the aftermath of that. A sweeping diagnosis started to occur, and the drug companies were the direct benefactors. The DSM is the direct controlling entity that advises doctors, schools and insurances where to allocate and who to diagnose. In the film Generation RX, the research that was done in this documentary showed that nearly every person on the DSM advisory board had a contract with the prescription drug companies. The very people who determine “sick labels” are making millions of dollars. Have you ever turned the television on during the hours of 9:00am and 3:00pm? Between the soap operas and the daily talk shows there are an abundance of prescription drug commercials talking about depression and the target of this depression label for the most part is women.
In the article We’re all Mad Here: Pharmaceutical Advertising and Messaging about Mental Illness, the author discusses that in most countries it is not legal for pharmaceutical companies to advertise on television and that the mass distribution of this advertising is plays a significant role on how the United States views mental health issues and the treatments needed especially where depression is concerned. (Bitch Media) The combination of constant in your face advertising and the constant influence the pharmaceutical companies have on our physicians have perpetuated an era of distrust. With that distrust and the pharmaceutical companies boasting an “instant cure” (no matter the side effects), people who are diagnosed with depression are automatically put in a “sad box” and they are not allowed to deviate from it and when they do they are labeled not sick enough or sad enough to really be depressed. We have arrived at a tricky predicament in this country where pharmaceutical companies are making the diagnosis and the doctor’s are taking the back seat. The social stigma’s attached with depression and the label’s that can be attached are devastating and that is even before someone takes the risk on a medication. Are we really depressed or is that what they want us to believe?
In the article We’re all Mad Here: Pharmaceutical Advertising and Messaging about Mental Illness, the author discusses that in most countries it is not legal for pharmaceutical companies to advertise on television and that the mass distribution of this advertising is plays a significant role on how the United States views mental health issues and the treatments needed especially where depression is concerned. (Bitch Media) The combination of constant in your face advertising and the constant influence the pharmaceutical companies have on our physicians have perpetuated an era of distrust. With that distrust and the pharmaceutical companies boasting an “instant cure” (no matter the side effects), people who are diagnosed with depression are automatically put in a “sad box” and they are not allowed to deviate from it and when they do they are labeled not sick enough or sad enough to really be depressed. We have arrived at a tricky predicament in this country where pharmaceutical companies are making the diagnosis and the doctor’s are taking the back seat. The social stigma’s attached with depression and the label’s that can be attached are devastating and that is even before someone takes the risk on a medication. Are we really depressed or is that what they want us to believe?
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Works cited:
Image 1: Google Images; Depression.
Image 2: Google Images; Depression.
Image 3: Google Images; Depression.
Image 4: Google. Images; Depression.
Image 5: Google Images; Depression.
Image 6: Google Images; Depression.
Film. Generation RX.
Smith. S.E. 2011. We’re all Mad Here: Pharmaceutical Advertising and Messaging about Mental Illness. Bitch Media.
Spiegel, Alix. 2010. What’s a Mental Disorder? Even Experts Can’t Agree.
DSM5. http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=484; Date accessed. March 24, 2012.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001941/. Date accessed, March 24, 2012.
Agree/Awesome:
ReplyDeleteYour post gave a thorough examination and explanation of depression, as well as how it is received/perceived in main stream society. I especially enjoyed your description of those with depression being placed in a "sad box". In the article We're All Mad Here by s.e. Smith, it was brought up that "when depressed people have good days or happy periods, it is assumed that they are faking." This statement seems very appropriate to your discussion. When any person with this diagnosis deviates from the perceived "norms" then they must be faking- thus it would be safer for them to stay in their "sad box". Excellent post.
Agree/Awesome:
DeleteI really liked your blog post Amber. You gave a great description of Depression. I also liked your opening picture. That was awesome. When I was doing my research for bipolar disorder, I really liked the article Hey, why are you crying? I thought it fit perfect for depression. All the pictures of the cartoon talking to herself about trying to get out of bed, or stop being sad, it definitely had depression written all over it!
- Agree/Awesome
ReplyDeleteIt was really fun reading your blog, especially with the picture of Sheldon at the end from the show Big Bang Theory (LOVE that guy!).
Yes, unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies probably want us to believe that we are sick and mental. The fact that we want to label someone "sick" when that individual seems different already tells us a lot about how affected we all are by the media and the drug industry. In the article "The Autism Information Epidemic" (1), the knowledge about autism spreads out and increases the diagnosing rate. Not only that, but like I have mentioned earlier, the urge of finding out if our children are also autistic is really tempting. Curiosity kills the cat, I guess?
- Vanise Leong
References
(1) http://contexts.org/discoveries/the-autism-information-epidemic/