Big Pharma and the labels they attach to the mental health issues which people suffer from is a big part of the problem.
Anything which is described as a disorder generally refers to a set of symptoms and not an actual disease. And for each disorder you can be sure that the pharmaceutical and advertising agencies between them will have some kind of prescription drug to ‘cure’ it.
In this day and age of big organisations profiting from our disorders and syndromes it’s no wonder that new conditions along with their labels and treatments are coming on to the market all the time. For me, this is both sad and concerning.
The Psychiatric Association have, for many years now relied on their DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual) when it comes to mental health. They compile a list of symptoms which show up for certain problems, give it a label which often ends in ‘disorder’ and allocate a prescription drug to cure it. Recently they have ‘discovered’ 15 new mental health disorders including Bereavement Syndrome, Hoarding and Binge Eating! I would be interested to read the studies that show how prescription drugs can solve these disorders, studies which have been carried out independently and not by the organisations producing the drugs!
It is evident that the psychiatric association work closely in conjunction with Big Pharma and the labels they attach to people suffering emotional distress. This is purely for their own benefit without much care for the people they prescribe their drugs to.
BUT…..here’s the thing…….the psychiatric association cannot actually agree on what constitutes mental health! They cannot agree which specific set of symptoms definitively means you have the named disorder.
How interesting!
General Anxiety Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Multiple Personality Disorder, Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Eating Disorders and the list goes on. Are these Big Pharma ‘labels’ actually mental illnesses as we are often led to believe or are they symptoms which show up because of something which has happened to us causing an emotional response.
What do you think?
So where does that leave us as therapists?
For myself, I prefer to treat each client as an individual person and not a label. I work with them to discover the reasons their symptoms have shown up. My job is to create a safe space for this to take place. Keeping the client physically, mentally and emotionally safe is of paramount importance to a successful outcome regardless of any label and empowering the client to be their own ‘cure’ is the goal.
Everything you need to heal from your suffering is already within you.
If you would like to explore this further in a safe space without judgement please Contact me today.
