7/27/2019 Sick Children or Sick Society

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Sick children or sick society

This was the name of one of the Maudsley debates I attended and is the inspiration for this journal.

75% of mental health problems start before the age of 25 and there is a high prevalence of suicide

amongst depressed teenage males (NIMH, 2005). Therefore there is a pressing need for early

detection and intervention to improve the quality of life for patients. However, having worked in a

mental health centre for over a year, it seems that some people purposely want to be diagnosedwith a disorder. Looking into this further, I can somewhat see why this movement may be

happening. It seems that some purposely want to be diagnosed to access services that are not

readily available. Up till now there has been a huge outcry in the US in response to DSM-V no longer

listing Asperger’s as a separate diagnosis, instead it comes under Autism Spectrum Disorder. What

most families seem to fear is that their children will lose services that their child is currently eligible

for (Lutz, 2013).

I have seen many parents walking in demanding that their child has autism. Why? Could it be to live

off the benefits such as disability living allowance or family fund schemes? I find it hard to actually

believe that parents are that selfish as to go through all that trouble of assessing their child just for

money schemes. Not all anti-social children have ADHD and not all angry children have disruptivemood dysregulation disorder. So why is it that most parents are always seeking to find a legitimate

explanation for their child’s behaviour e.g. “it’s not Jake’s fault…he has ADHD.” By doing so, we are

diminishing the responsibility of their behaviour and essentially allowing them to continue behaving

a particular way.

What about adults who want to be diagnosed? Intervention and diagnosis has become a means for

the “worried well” to live of the perks of the classification system. A DSM recognised diagnosis

means that insurance company can cover the treatment, NICE will approve certain treatment if 

there is a recognised diagnosis. I find it insulting that most people want to be diagnosed with bipolar

or depression as some sort of fashionable mental health diagnosis, but it is amusing that the same

people will not go so far as to be diagnosed with something more psychotic such as schizophrenia.

As a result of this flaw in the mental health system, chronic mental health illness is being overlooked.

Perhaps the doctors and psychologists are to blame. It seems that these professionals are eager to

prescribe medication and give diagnosis. In order to examine this, we have to look at the bigger

picture. There has been a 400% increase in the prescription of anti-depressant drugs in the US since

1998 (Pratt et al, 2011). The prescription of Ritalin for ADHD increased by 83% in the US between

2006 and 2010 (Craig and Doward, 2012). There is clearly a financial explanation behind this. It

seems logical that the more diagnosis psychiatrists make, the better their job profile looks and the

more experience they get resulting to more money. In addition the more medication that is

prescribed, the more money pharmaceutical companies make. In 2002, the top 10 drug companies

earned more profits than all the rest of the Fortune 500 companies combined (Angell, 2004). Makeof this what you will – but this seems pretty f****d to me.

The problem with early diagnosis and prescription is that children/adolescents rely on third party

help. Medication does not always solve everything. I read in the paper about a young girl, 4 years

old, who died from early mental health intervention by accidental overdose on Clonidine. So just

how early should early intervention be? Rather than prescribing medication, perhaps we should

teach children, adolescents and adults how to be resilient - slip in some CBT or meditation rather

than Prozac.