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I know techy types who like technological solutions and probably felt they benefited from using such drugs are overrepresented on this site, but did no one else

by spodek 14y ago

I know techy types who like technological solutions and probably felt they benefited from using such drugs are overrepresented on this site, but did no one else register the defeatist, victimhood justifications for using the drugs? Trying to solve a social problem with technology misses the point. I highlight these two quotes: From the article: “I don’t have a whole lot of choice,” said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.” We have to modify the kid??? Also from the article: “We are effectively forcing local community psychiatrists to use the only tool at their disposal, which is psychotropic medications.” the only tool??? Modifying human beings because we have no alternative? If you ask me, the side effects of this approach are not just the potential side effects of the drug on the individual, but complacency in not addressing the problems' causes, creating dependency of a social class on a drug, teaching children to take drugs to solve problems, creating a belief we have no alternatives, perpetuating a system that bores children and punishing them for their boredom, and so on. Does nobody else wonder what other unintended consequences such a policy might create, independent of the drugs' safety or not?

icegreentea 14y ago
This is kind of reflective of health care in general actually. The system in use (this isn't just the United States by the way, it's most of the Western world) is that we live in some state of 'healthiness' for most of our lives, where we do not interact regularly with health professionals (not just doctors) - except perhaps a pharmacist to fill some regular prescription. Our interactions are clustered -after- we are deamed unhealthy. Only once the need is most urgent do try to become 'healthy' again. This predictably leads to a culture that favours drugs and surgery as solutions. This is so engrained that health care practically IS synonymous with drugs and surgery. This bias exists in everyone, from the health care professionals, to those who are sick, to those to who are healthy, to those who would lead us. We all have it. The 'unintended consequences' of such a policy are the problems facing nearly all 1st world health care systems. Surging costs, potentially unsustainable growth, constant doubts of effectiveness (and actual questionable effectiveness in some areas), and in general, a culture that more or less treats staying healthy as a bang-bang control system.
D3 14y ago
>but complacency in not addressing the problems' causes To be fair, people have been using alcohol as a convenient bandage for their social anxiety for a very long time now. This problem is not limited to this context - it's literally all around us. I would argue that denial is one of the hallmarks of humanity, not merely a glitch.

by spodek 14y ago

icegreentea 14y ago

This is kind of reflective of health care in general actually. The system in use (this isn't just the United States by the way, it's most of the Western world) is that we live in some state of 'healthiness' for most of our lives, where we do not interact regularly with health professionals (not just doctors) - except perhaps a pharmacist to fill some regular prescription. Our interactions are clustered -after- we are deamed unhealthy. Only once the need is most urgent do try to become 'healthy' again. This predictably leads to a culture that favours drugs and surgery as solutions. This is so engrained that health care practically IS synonymous with drugs and surgery. This bias exists in everyone, from the health care professionals, to those who are sick, to those to who are healthy, to those who would lead us. We all have it. The 'unintended consequences' of such a policy are the problems facing nearly all 1st world health care systems. Surging costs, potentially unsustainable growth, constant doubts of effectiveness (and actual questionable effectiveness in some areas), and in general, a culture that more or less treats staying healthy as a bang-bang control system.

D3 14y ago

>but complacency in not addressing the problems' causes To be fair, people have been using alcohol as a convenient bandage for their social anxiety for a very long time now. This problem is not limited to this context - it's literally all around us. I would argue that denial is one of the hallmarks of humanity, not merely a glitch.