The Medicalization of Mental Health

A reconsideration of Alan Sroufe’s article in the New York Times about ADHD symptoms, as well as the rebuttals and reactions from Harold S. Koplewicz and Judth Warner.

The upcoming revision to the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual will purportedly eliminate Asperger’s Syndrome as a diagnosis, once again calling into question the scientific precision and validity of psychological diagnosis.

Why has Bipolar Disorder, once a fairly rare phenomenon, become so pervasive in our society? This article looks at four influencing factors: (1) improved diagnosis; (2) an enlargement of our conception of the illness; (3) a “vogue” for the label that has led to over-diagnosis; and (4) illicit drug-use and psychiatric medications that have actually increased the incidence of Bipolar Disorder.

Contrary to what we have been led to believe, psychiatric medications do not rectify a chemical imbalance in your brain but instead create one; the body then adapts to this imbalance, and when drug use is discontinued, the physical response is akin to withdrawal symptoms.

In the long-term, patients who have never been exposed to psychiatric medication have a much better prognosis than those who were placed on drugs.