While the United States is often perceived as being the world’s leader in health care, it’s become increasingly evident that the country is slipping far down the totem pole. This is especially true in the sphere of mental health and, more specifically, psychiatry. Although talk and drug therapy were medicalized in the early 20th century with the advent of psychoanalysis, inspiring people with emotional illnesses to get help, the importance of extending comprehensive therapy continues to be lost upon insurance companies and the health care industry itself.
Dr. Donald Levin, a practicing Chicago psychiatrist for more than 30 years, said in a New York Times article that he now has to train himself “not to get too interested in [his patients’] problems,” because he has no time from a practical perspective. Many psychiatrists, such as Levin, now have to undergo brief consultations with their patients in order to minimize expenses, mostly as a result of insurance companies that don’t like to reimburse doctors for talk therapy.
This speaks to the momentum that insurance companies continue to garner in the medical business, a momentum that is largely unchecked. It also speaks to a growing separation between doctors and patients, which once was a supposedly valuable relationship. But most importantly, it speaks to the power of the pharmaceutical industry, or what medical professionals and sociologists call “Big Pharma.” Regardless of the obvious problems that exist in relation to public and private insurance agencies and the people they cover, most of which are caused by a propensity for profit, the power of drugs has amassed to an almost untouchable level – and on what basis?
The idea that doctors are being pressured into eliminating the organic element of therapy is not only indicative of a general disregard for the common welfare on the part of advantageous organizations, but also shows prescriptive drugs are becoming normative (or “the easy solution”) with little to no restraint from anyone. “Big Pharma” plays a huge part in the economy and has influential lobbyists supporting its growth. Thus, as the consumption and production of pills continues down this cyclical path, the distressed individual’s wellbeing ultimately becomes secondary.
The field of medicine is always changing and adapting of new ideas to a certain extent. But with advances in research and technology, practitioners should feel a sense of empowerment rather than a sense of obligation to the system.
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