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Overmedicating America

Overmedicating America. By: Melody Hahn. Stats On Mental Health [2]. 26.2 % of American adults suffer from a mental disorder. That’s 1 out of 4 people! 18.1% have anxiety disorders 9.4% have mood disorders 9.1% have personality disorders 6.7% have Major D epressive Disorder

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Overmedicating America

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  1. Overmedicating America By: Melody Hahn

  2. Stats On Mental Health [2] • 26.2 % of American adults suffer from a mental disorder. That’s 1 out of 4 people! • 18.1% have anxiety disorders • 9.4% have mood disorders • 9.1% have personality disorders • 6.7% have Major Depressive Disorder • 4.1% have ADHD • 2.6 % have Bipolar disorder • 1.5% have chronic mild depression • 1.1% have schizophrenia • 45% of people with any mental disorder meet the criteria of 2 or more mental health disorders. • Due to comorbidity these numbers don’t add up to the total of 26.2%

  3. Stats On Mental Health[3] • From 1988 to 2008 the use of antidepressants increased 400% • In 2005 to 2008 antidepressants were the third most commonly taken medication in America. • Females are twice as likely to take antidepressants as males. Why? • They have a greater fluctuation of hormones? • Because they are stay at home moms? • Stressed by children? • See antidepressant medication tv ads more often? • Depressed because of conflict to be a mom or be in the workplace? • More willing to seek help and be outspoken about their problems? • Over exaggerate more than men? • Men thinking they just need to “tough it out”?

  4. Celebrities with Mental Disorders:[1] • Catherine Zeta-Jones: Bipolar Disorder • Mel Gibson: Bipolar Disorder • Brooke Shields: Postpartum Depression • Herschel Walker: Dissociative Identity Disorder • Michael Phelps: ADHD • Elton John: Bulimia • Kurt Cobain: ADD and Bipolar Disorder

  5. What Caused The Shift In Thinking? • Technology advances in diagnosing? • Explaining the rise in how many people are being diagnosed. Making mental illnesses “normal”. • Drug companies making better drugs? • Drug companies getting better at advertising? • The consumer wanting the product because it will make them “happy” or feel “normal” just because the commercial said so without knowing the real effects? • Society changing? • Not as resilient, thinking one bad day means you depression, striving to be perfect in every way including mood and emotions?

  6. Popular TV Ads for Medications • Zoloft 1 • Zoloft2 • Abilify • Superfluous • Should drug companies be allowed to show advertisements?

  7. Drug Advertising[4] • The only countries that allow drug advertising are America and New Zealand. • The name “Zoloft” was created by the same guy who named the Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Quest

  8. Drug Slogans • Zoloft: • “When you know more about what’s wrong, you can help make it right” • Paxil: • “Your life is waiting” • Prozac: • “Welcome back” • Abilify: • “Add Abilify”

  9. How Do Ads Influence Prescribing? • 1/5 Americans ask for a drug that they saw an advertisement for. [4] • A study showed that 80% of physicians felt pressured by their patient to prescribe a brand named drug. [5] • Patients understand the benefits of the drugs but not the risks. [6]

  10. Who’s Doing All The Prescribing?[7] • The majority of patients are going to their primary care physician to get their antidepressant medication. • Risks with going to see your primary care physician for a mental illness include: • Limited knowledge on the medication they are prescribing • Limited knowledge on non pharmaceutical treatments of mental illness • A financial incentive to prescribe medication vs psychotherapy • In 2010, Americans have spent $16 billion on antipsychotics, $11 billion on antidepressants, and $7 billion on ADHD medication.

  11. In Conclusion

  12. Citations: • 1. http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/mental-disorders/15-celebrities-with-mental-health-disorders.htm • 2. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml • 3. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf • 4. Comfortably Numb by Charles Barber Vintage Books 2008 • 5. http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm143562.htm • 6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278148/ • 7. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/06/prescribing.aspx

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