I've seen some changes in recent years- and they are not positive changes. Examples that come to mind on this particular topic:
It is illegal for health care providers to accept cash payments from pharmaceutical companies for prescribing the companies' drugs. However, they can- and do- accept a variety of other “benefits.” You may want to check the links below for some interesting details.
https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22762652/dollars-docs-database-shows-drugmakers-payouts-physicians
A recent news magazine states that on average, Americans are taking 14 prescription medications.
So your question should be: is your health care provider really concerned about the best interests of your health?
- Direct-to-consumer advertising.
Given my location at the time, it was near the beginning of 2002. A little cartoonish character, with a sad expression, bounced across the tv screen: “Are you feeling blue?” And then a comment about the drug the consumer should request from his/her physician.
More recently, there was a commercial directed at teenagers- read: minors. A girl was sitting at a table when she was approached by one of her friends. When the friend asked how she was, she replied “Oh, ok I guess.” This prompted the friend to tell her about a local agency; by its name, the average person would not guess it involved mental health treatment. It is only one example of how minors are encouraged to seek treatment- including medications- without their parents' knowledge.
- The shift from “talk therapy” to medication.
When I first saw this, I thought it was one isolated incident, one particular place. An individual who approached an outpatient mental health clinic asking for counseling was given, during a one-month period, approximately a half-dozen different medications. Upon asking 'What about the counseling?' the provider replied they did not have time for that sort of thing- all they had time for were '20-minute med checks.'
Since then, I've seen this approach backed up in statistics and interviews. One interview was from a psychiatrist, speaking for his field, remarking that giving patients an hour or a half-hour was not financially useful- providers could make much more money by devoting ten minutes to each patient and having said patients leave with prescriptions.
- The largest percentage of psychiatric medications are not given by mental health professionals- they are prescribed by primary care physicians.
- While this should be a concern for everyone, it is a special concern regarding children. One example: a kindergarten teacher remarked that 80% of the youngsters in her kindergarten were taking medications. A second example: a mother took her child for the usual check-up before the child started kindergarten; she commented the pediatrician asked if she wanted any medications for the child. The mother added the pediatrician did not even claim the child had any conditions.
- The dangerous trend of “self-diagnosis.”
All around the internet you can find lists of 'symptoms' and 'checklists'- not only encouraging consumers to 'diagnose' themselves, but to diagnose their children. If “Little Billy” is squirmy at his desk in school, or “Little Susy” argues with people, you're supposed to run to your doctor and demand medications for the child.
- O.k., it has to be said: are Americans getting dumber, are the Pharma companies and providers getting greedier- or is it a combination of both?
Often, I read something on news sites that's presented as “News”- 'recent studies show,' etc., when the so-called news was common knowledge decades ago. One example: harmful effects of medication on unborn children, when taken by expectant mothers.
My much-much older siblings were born in the 1940s- and people knew then that anything consumed by an expectant mother- whether she ate it, drank it, or took a product- affected the unborn child. So it is absolutely mindboggling how many pregnant girls/women these days are taking psychiatric medications- and how many babies are being born with a variety of serious birth defects because of it.
- The trend that 'o.k.' is not good enough- and 'less than o.k.' is really not good enough.
Similar to the teens in the direct-to-consumer section, I've read numerous comments along the line of “What's so wrong about not wanting to feel bad?” and even “What's wrong with wanting to feel good?” Logically, there's nothing wrong with either- but mind-altering, mood-altering drugs are not the answer.
Too many people today cannot stand- or believe they should not have to stand- anything less than 'wonderful.' And while this certainly has the pharmaceutical companies and greedy providers laughing all the way to the bank for the so-called mental health prescriptions, pharmaceutical products for medical purposes are in the same category. It benefits them much more, for example, to prescribe expensive, potentially addictive painkillers than to simply advise a person to take aspirin.
It is illegal for health care providers to accept cash payments from pharmaceutical companies for prescribing the companies' drugs. However, they can- and do- accept a variety of other “benefits.” You may want to check the links below for some interesting details.
https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22762652/dollars-docs-database-shows-drugmakers-payouts-physicians
A recent news magazine states that on average, Americans are taking 14 prescription medications.
So your question should be: is your health care provider really concerned about the best interests of your health?