Post by Admin on Feb 10, 2014 11:12:57 GMT
Curing depression takes more than prescribing antidepressants: the solution is not to minimise the experience of this condition
We are in a crucial time in medicine, and not just because of the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-5, which has provoked numerous media battles between psychologists and psychiatrists, one with a biomedical model of illness and tablets, one with a psychosocial model. It's clear that there has been an enormous overselling of numerous medical interventions – not just in mental health – with overdiagnosis and overtreatment led by an industry keen to get doctors to diagnose as many people as possible. But none of this means that depression – which patients describe to us – doesn't exist.
As with other conditions, such as migraine, there is no blood test or scan to confirm it; diagnosis rests on talking to the person and understanding the symptoms in the context of their life. GPs may take two or three consultations to make the diagnosis and consider medication. Unhappiness is normal; depression, with whatever combination of persistent insomnia, oversleeping, agitation, delusions, anorexia, overeating or suicidal thoughts, is not. Like any sliding scale, there is the potential for definitions to be widened by an industry keen to label more people as depressed. And each person is different in terms of what will help this depression – some people will get on well with therapy, other people will get no benefit from tablets, and vice-versa.
Continue reading in:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/12/depression-unhappiness-antidepressants-overprescribed
We are in a crucial time in medicine, and not just because of the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-5, which has provoked numerous media battles between psychologists and psychiatrists, one with a biomedical model of illness and tablets, one with a psychosocial model. It's clear that there has been an enormous overselling of numerous medical interventions – not just in mental health – with overdiagnosis and overtreatment led by an industry keen to get doctors to diagnose as many people as possible. But none of this means that depression – which patients describe to us – doesn't exist.
As with other conditions, such as migraine, there is no blood test or scan to confirm it; diagnosis rests on talking to the person and understanding the symptoms in the context of their life. GPs may take two or three consultations to make the diagnosis and consider medication. Unhappiness is normal; depression, with whatever combination of persistent insomnia, oversleeping, agitation, delusions, anorexia, overeating or suicidal thoughts, is not. Like any sliding scale, there is the potential for definitions to be widened by an industry keen to label more people as depressed. And each person is different in terms of what will help this depression – some people will get on well with therapy, other people will get no benefit from tablets, and vice-versa.
Continue reading in:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/12/depression-unhappiness-antidepressants-overprescribed