It seems like every other person and their mother has a disorder or disease nowadays. Almost everybody we know has depression, ADD, or some other medical condition which keeps them busy with a myriad of pills for every day of the week. We all have that friend who believes his headache is a symptom of brain tumor, his breathlessness after climbing the stairs is undeniably asthma, or his fatigue after the end of each day is depression. So, is America being over-diagnosed? Is there any reason at all that half the people we know taking medication for ADD or depression should be on anything at all? Are doctors perhaps ignoring their Hippocratic oath- First, do no harm- taking advantage of our ability to always sweat the small stuff to make more money? Are we being scammed, or is the increase in diagnoses a result of our expanding knowledge of disorders and diseases that were practically unheard of thirty years ago? This question will be explored over the next couple of months, and hopefully some conclusions can be drawn with more information.
Thursday 19 January 2012
An Introduction to the Issue of Over-Diagnosis
It seems like every other person and their mother has a disorder or disease nowadays. Almost everybody we know has depression, ADD, or some other medical condition which keeps them busy with a myriad of pills for every day of the week. We all have that friend who believes his headache is a symptom of brain tumor, his breathlessness after climbing the stairs is undeniably asthma, or his fatigue after the end of each day is depression. So, is America being over-diagnosed? Is there any reason at all that half the people we know taking medication for ADD or depression should be on anything at all? Are doctors perhaps ignoring their Hippocratic oath- First, do no harm- taking advantage of our ability to always sweat the small stuff to make more money? Are we being scammed, or is the increase in diagnoses a result of our expanding knowledge of disorders and diseases that were practically unheard of thirty years ago? This question will be explored over the next couple of months, and hopefully some conclusions can be drawn with more information.
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Thanks Jazz. You present a lot to think about. I look forward to following your research!
ReplyDeleteI find that you are on the right path going forward with your blog and am interested to see what you post in the near future. In my opinion, I find it difficult to tell whether over diagnosing is a scam or if they are trying to discover new diseases and disorders, as you stated. I am a bit baffled on what side I believe is right so fortunately I can make up my mind as you go forward with your blogging. Everything was very well written as you used the evidence from the articles. Overall, I found your blog very enjoyable to read as well as seeing your point of view on the topic. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete-Karen Lefferts
DeleteI completely agree! It is just insane how many people are on ADD meds and over half of them really don't need it. I was even perscribed ADD meds not too long ago and after a couple times a using them I just stopped using them, I didn't want by brain to rely on a drug so I could focus because I am perfectly able to do it on my own. Another aspect of the problem of over-diagnosis is the atmosphere people are around, especially kids. A big reason that kids are taking ADD meds is that they're parents or teachers think that just because they're twelve-year-old kid has a little bit of energy and can't focus on the overload of homework he has, doesn't mean the kid has ADD. It means he's a twelve-year-old kid that's having trouble focusing. Parents forget that the ability to focus is a skill, not just something you automatically have. It has to be practiced, and with time you get better. Another way parents could help they're kid is put them in a sport, something physically active because kids need to use energy, they don't want to just sit around. This is another point that makes sence to over-diagnosis being a scam. Instead of a doctor telling a parent to put their kid in a sport or something to get his energy out, they hand them over some pills and make the kid to take a drug to fix the "issue." I believe that not only is it a scam, but it is just also the teachers and parents and doctors being too lazy to do whats right, or to tell them whats right for the kid.
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