I found two recent news items incongruous. The Wall Street Journal last month reported one in five Americans is taking some kind of drug for mental illness such as depression, anxiety or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). That’s a 22 increase from 10 years ago, according to a review of pharmacy claims filed.
Then, three weeks later, the Journal ran a story about a striking predisposition to mental illness in left-handed people. “Left-handedness appears to be associated with a greater risk for a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders,” the story said. “While lefties make up about 10% of the overall population, about 20% of people with schizophrenia are lefties, for example. ” There was also a correlation with bipolar disorder and ADHD.
But the “wow” for me was to learn researchers don’t really know why. They can only speculate because — as crazy as it sounds — they rarely include left-handed people in brain studies. The brain imaging of left-handed people is different and, therefore, not relevant? Right.
It reminds me of the days when women were not equally represented in medical research because — this makes me hot — their hormones would mess up the experiments. Fortunately, things have turned around. Breast cancer research receives the most funding per new case from the National Cancer Institute.
But there’s still a long way to go, especially when it comes to mental illness. Up until recently, psychiatric disorders played second fiddle to physical disorders — that is, when they were thought about at all.
A relative of mine who was in intensive care in the hospital couldn’t get her antidepressants because they are not available in a form that can go through IVs (even though sedatives and blood pressure meds can, for example). A nurse speculated she could make millions if she could compound antidepressants in a liquid form.
This science dropout was so frustrated, I wanted to join the nurse in the experiment. Time to get with the 21st century, Pfizer, Abbott, Eli Lilly, all of you pharma companies .
With one in five people taking medication for mental illness, there’s money to be made.
There is indeed money to be made – $80 billion a year and rising. Furthermore, the studies and research into mental health are still as flawed today, as the article states, that they were in the past.
Psychiatric disorders no longer play ‘second fiddle’ to real physical disorders thanks to the unholy alliance of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry.
But, as the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet, because the book that has proliferated this global ‘mental health epidemic’ is about to foisted off, yet again, onto an unsuspecting public in March 2013 – DSM 5, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses.
Providing us with. no doubt, a whole new range of mental disorders that are voted into existence by the American Psychiatric Association.
Psychiatry has no scientific evidence that any of its theories exist in fact. They are unable to cure anyone of anything. They do not know what causes mental illness, yet they are given carte blanche to diagnose individuals as mentally ill and prescribe potentially harmful drugs – even to kids as young as 6.
I enjoyed, considerably, your article Left-handers Left in the dark.
I was the lead researcher in the Faux ADHD study published by the American Journal of Family Therapy (see fauxadhd.com ) where we found evidence that several million U.S. children taking ADHD meds probably did not have ADHD. In our study we found that the problem was connected to bedtime routines, and the results morphed into Goodnights Now (see amazon.com). As a practitioner, I support the appropriate use of medication for accurately diagnosed ADHD. However, it ‘s a pity that so many children are on ADHD meds without the proper diagnosis, which must include the critical questions, “Is your child sleeping in his or her own bed every night” or “Does your child have a regular bedtime?”
Your article has great value in learning more in general about prejudice in the mental health arena. I am requesting that a link to your site be placed on the Goodparentgoodchild.www website as well as our own.
Thank you and congratulations on a superb piece.
Robert Pressman, Ph.D.
Director of Research
New England Center for Pediatric Psychology