Is it bad to medicalise and treat normal human conditions such as depression, anxiety, grief and fear?

Question

In a discussion with a psychologist at the Dr's practice where I worked she felt this was a bad thing. It is normal to experience negative emotions etc but today we treat them as if they are illnesses and perscribe drugs for them.

example of medicalisation- a woman's husband dies after 20 years of marriage she is desperatley sad and depressed. This is quite natural but she goes to the Dr and the Dr will prescribe anti-depressants with the idea that this is a condition that needs to be treated. Doctor's treat illnesses no health, so therefor the Dr is treating the woman's grief as if it is an illness.

Answer 1

To answer your question, you need to distinguish between acute and chronic conditions. In the case of a widow, negative emotions, including depression, are to be expected for a reasonable length of time. Likewise, anxiety, fear and other "negative" emotions serve a valuable survival function in some acute contexts. If and when the responses move from acute responses to chronic ones, however, may require medical intervention. Then the response has also progressed from emotion to illness.

Answer 2

There is a distinction between normal human conditions and abnormal human conditions. Yes sadness, anxiousness, grief and fear are thing we all feel. However these can be taken to an extreme. No we should not go to the Dr. everytime a boyfriend dumps us or someone dies. However sometimes we do need to- these typical emotions aren't always typical or felt in a typical way by everyone.

When these emotions become persistant and are a hinderance to someone's normal function for a long period of time (ranges depending on the disorder some are 2wks. some are 2 years) that is a problem. And the DSM-IV (diagnostic manual for mental illness) carefully excludes bereavement as a reason for a depressive episode.

In your example I'd say that if the woman's husband died last week giving her drugs was a terrible action on the doctors part. However if the husband died 2 years ago and the woman still cannot function normally at all I'd say that he might have been right.

To finish my really long response- I think it's ok to prescribe medication for legitimate conditions. I think it would be even better if they not only got medicine but received some sort of therapy in conjunction with that*. However, I do not support in any way giving a person drugs to deal with by the standards mentioned earlier a "normal" problem. I think it would cause worse problems later in life when they have to deal with a bigger problem and they don't have the mental 'tools' to deal with it because they've been taking drugs all their life.

Answer 3

It is becoming a growing problem in our society - that people label their emotions as disorders. The medical profession is prescribing anti-depressants at an alarming rate - perhaps to make their jobs easier. Instead of people working through their issues, they accept a diagnosis of some disorder or another, and somehow, they feel that, with medication, they will get better. People are walking around doped up with anti-depressants, seemingly feeling 'better' - but their problems are every bit as real as they ever were. There are certainly people who benefit from them, but not nearly the vast number that are currently being treated with this form of medication.

By labelling an emotion as a disorder, it does not force you to face the realities of how you are feeling. And worse, it often gives people an excuse for how they may act or treat others. People need to start taking responsibility for their lives and face how they really feel...and stop depending upon the pop psychology and medication of today's society.

Answer 4

It's not really a bad thing...but you do have to consider the degree of these conditions. Yes, it is normal to experience negative emotions and anxiety. But if becomes so persistent that if affects your daily functions in life, then something needs to be done to help. At that point people are usually given prescription drugs in conjunction with seeing a therapist do help deal with those issues. I feel they become categorized as an "illness" when those "conditions" keep you from being able to carry out your daily actions properly.

Answer 5

Over the last five years I had begun to have increasingly withdraw into a downward spiral of depression..

But now with the method I can fully focus my energy and thoughts into a decisive line on how to make my life better constantly. And it works like magic! I'm beginning to attract people to me once again and things have just been looking up since then.

Helping you eliminate depression?

Answer 6

I believe it's bad to treat such a thing long term with medicine. If someone is suicidal, though. I say it's ok to treat them with something so you at least have time to figure out why and try to help them.

But I'm also a strong supporter of my very own backhand method. It's called BACKhand because it knocks them back into reality.

Answer 7

Drepression, anxiety, grief and fear are all normal feelings that almost every human will experience. It's how we deal with it that matters, do we spend all our energy running away or channeling all that energy in to finding the soloution?

Answer 8

NO, I DO NOT THINK IT'S BAD,WERE IT NOT FOR MEDICATION FOR DEPRESSION, I WOULD NOT BE SITTING HERE TYPING THIS TODAY YEARS AGO PEOPLE WERE JUST LABELED CRAZY AND PUT IN AN INSTITUTION. I WAITED FOR YEARS UNTIL I FINALLY REALIZED I DIDN'T HAVE TO FEEL LIKE I WAS. MEDICATION WAS A GODSEND FOR ME

Answer 9

i have depression problems and i dont take drugs for it.... and i am starting to get better with it... just a journal and a friend i trust is all i need.... i dont think you need drugs to get over stuff... and i was full on... i wanted to kill myself and stuff too!!

Answer 10

What exactly do you medicalise?