The Medicalization of America

The Medicalization of America

There seems to be a pill for everything. Attention deficit disorder, acid reflux, high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, low fiber, high cholesterol; you name it and it seems there is some kind of pill that can take care of the problem. Sometimes the pill causes more problems than it treats. We are quick to think that these pills are the cure-all for our problems, primarily because we have become a people that look for the solution that requires the least amount of work. We fail to take good care of ourselves and when our bodies breakdown from the inadequate care, rather than correct the bad habits we have managed to accumulate, we ask for the most effective medical solution. Rather than treat the problem, we are looking for a band-aid solution, eventually allowing more and more problems to pile up until finally we have become a slave to the pills we are taking. If only we treated our bodies better, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
So our society has become one where we look for solutions in pharmaceuticals and medical procedures. We ask for gastro-bypass surgery when all we needed was a little dedication to diet and exercise. We over diagnose attention deficit disorder and ask for Adderall when all we needed was a little self-discipline to focus on our studies or our work. But these are not the only case of shunning our responsibility.
There is a recent tendency to blame our actions on "diseases". An example would be that of alcoholism. We have been taught to believe that this is, in fact, a disease, when really it is a lack of self-control. Addicts of all natures (not just alcohol) are said to have a disease. Gamblers have diseases. Yet, these diseases are non-contagious and have no medicine to treat them. How then are they real diseases? Even AIDS and cancer respond to certain medications. Yet we have created these diseases to remove self-responsibility and replace it with acceptable excuses for inexcusable behavior. Here's an example: if someone trashes your house you are justified in getting mad at them. However, if someone is drunk and then trashes your house, for some reason it is more acceptable than the previous scenario. The reason being that inebriation creates an excuse for the behavior making the action more acceptable. We have created diseases to provide excuses for our behavior, called medicalization, so that we are not held accountable for our actions and our mistakes. We all have the ability to control ourselves; it's called willpower. When we refuse to exercise it, rather than take ownership for our mistakes we find ways to immune ourselves from blame. This is how we have become a medicalized society.
There have been repercussions of our medicalization. We are so quick to say that we have diseases and medical problems that now prescriptions are prescribed and advertised at alarming rates. We have all seen commercials on television or in our magazines that tell us to "ask our doctor about X" when we have no idea what X really does. Additionally, we have doctors in the area that over-prescribe medicine or even frivolously prescribe pills to people that are unnecessary. This has only helped increase the supply of drugs in the area, the same drugs that are being sold and causing law enforcement problems. Additionally, in some areas of the nation teenagers are holding "pharm parties" where participants collect drugs in their parent's medicine cabinets to be mixed and taken; the results are sometimes fatal. The problems are becoming widespread across all areas of society; a lack of personal accountability has indirectly led to increased supply of drugs for illegal sale and contributed to new types of drug experimentation for minors.
I am not saying that all drugs are bad. Some serve real benefits to the health of our society. Some people generally do have legitimate diseases that inhibit their self control mechanisms (being the exception and not the norm). However, there are many cases that if we just took better care of ourselves and exercised good discretion and hard work we would not be in the mess we are. I don't think that all prescriptions are bad and that all doctors over-prescribe, but obviously there are some problems with the status quo.