Living in America will drive you insane — literally. This article originally appeared on Alternet. In “The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?” (New York Review of Books, 2011), Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, discusses over-diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, pathologizing of normal behaviors, Big Pharma corruption of psychiatry, and the adverse effects of psychiatric medications. While diagnostic expansionism and Big Pharma certainly deserve a large share of the blame for this epidemic, there is another reason.
A June 2013 Gallup poll revealed that 70% of Americans hate their jobs or have “checked out” of them. Life may or may not suck any more than it did a generation ago, but our belief in “progress” has increased expectations that life should be more satisfying, resulting in mass disappointment. For many of us, society has become increasingly alienating, isolating and insane, and earning a buck means more degrees, compliance, ass-kissing, shit-eating, and inauthenticity. In 2011, the U.S. Home | psych.org. Psychiatry divided as mental health 'bible' denounced - health - 03 May 2013. Guest editorial: "One manual shouldn't dictate US mental health research" by Allen Frances The world's biggest mental health research institute is abandoning the new version of psychiatry's "bible" – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, questioning its validity and stating that "patients with mental disorders deserve better".
This bombshell comes just weeks before the publication of the fifth revision of the manual, called DSM-5. On 29 April, Thomas Insel, director of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), advocated a major shift away from categorising diseases such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia according to a person's symptoms. Instead, Insel wants mental disorders to be diagnosed more objectively using genetics, brain scans that show abnormal patterns of activity and cognitive testing. This would mean abandoning the manual published by the American Psychiatric Association that has been the mainstay of psychiatric research for 60 years. Many authors of psychiatry bible have industry ties - 14 March 2012. Annual Meeting | psych.org. Anxiety and sleeping pills 'linked to dementia' 9 September 2014Last updated at 22:21 ET By Helen Briggs Health editor, BBC News website The class of drugs known as benzodiazepines is mainly used to treat anxiety or insomnia Long-term use of pills for anxiety and sleep problems may be linked to Alzheimer's, research suggests.
A study of older Canadian adults found that past benzodiazepine use for three months or more was linked to an increased risk (up to 51%) of dementia. NHS guidelines say the drugs should be used for eight to 12 weeks at most. The French-Canadian team says while the link is not definitive, it is another warning that treatments should not exceed three months. "Benzodiazepine use is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease," lead researcher, Sophie Billioti de Gage of the University of Bordeaux, France, and colleagues wrote in the BMJ. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteDr Eric KarranAlzheimer's Research UK Long-term use Benzodiazepines are used to treat anxiety disorders and insomnia.