Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Manufacturing Depression - By Gary Greenberg

Is a fascinating book which looks at the history of the disease we know as depression.

Greenberg details how the "scientific" community (in)directly with pharmaceutical companies purposely strayed away from Freudian-style analysis in diagnosing depression because of it's "unreliability". (IE. One man's self-criticism is another man's self-awareness.)

In order to give psychiatry it's proper place in "scientific" medicine (and pharmas to make profit), they came up with "Reliable criteria" which defines (and diagnoses) a person who is truly depressed.

One of my biggest beefs has long been the simplicity with which depression is diagnosed and treated. It is commonly held by medical professionals (who consider this "scientific") that the best treatment for Major Depressive Disorder is for the patient to regularly take their prescribed medication and goes through Cognitive Therapy.

My beef with this is the over-simplification. Taking anti-depressants and "changing my way of thinking" does not address philosophical questions like what consists contentment and "happiness".

A person may not feel "happy" despite having a "normal life". Many a lay person does not (or chooses not to) comprehend this (IE. "There are lots of people "worse off" than you, therefore you SHOULD be happy).

As for modern "scientific" psychiatry and psychology, the person is clinically depressed if they have 2 or more of these symptoms for 2 or more consecutive weeks:
- depressed mood (such as feelings of sadness or emptiness).
- reduced interest in activities that used to be enjoyed, sleep disturbances (either not being able to sleep well or sleeping to much).
- loss of energy or a significant reduction in energy level.
- difficulty concentrating, holding a conversation, paying attention, or making decisions that used to be made fairly easily.
- suicidal thoughts or intentions.

Listening to a list of symptoms and diagnosing is relatively easy, listening to what TRULY MAKES A PERSON UN-HAPPY is a little more difficult, so by calling it "un-reliable", the "scientists" wiggle their way out of the tough part.

In the book, Greenberg elaborates on the rise of psychiatric medicine in the past 100 or so years as well as an entire chapter on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which he doesn't dismiss, but makes it clear that the "scientifically proven" tag it attaches to itself is not quite accurate.

No comments: