La Dependencia de la sociedad a los fármacos.

An unnecessary dependence

By: Daniela Flores

Since we live in a world that it controlled by a capitalist system, the influence of companies over people is increasing every minute. The pharmaceutical stores are some of the best businesses to own due to the elevated amount of existing diseases. Consequently, those companies have been manipulating the people in the world by creating a “need” that is not always true. For years, doctors have been promoting the use of dozens of drugs to treat different illnesses, and even though they have been efficient curing patients, there are times that they are not really necessary for the treatment of certain diseases.  

Mental health is a relatively “new” science that humans started to study no more than 200 years ago, which is why many theories and ideas have not been fully polished or reviewed. Psychology is a branch of science where scientists have been researching a lot in order to understand how do the brain and the emotions of a person work. For years now, doctors believed that the best way for treating mental illnesses was through the intake of medicines, however scientists now a days have started to believe that mental problems can be treated with therapy and social experiments.

I believe that the fact that doctors still prescribe medicines for every type of mental disease can be caused by two main reasons: the pressure of pharmaceuticals for the purchase of the drugs and the lack of knowledge of the wide field of mental illnesses. The fact that doctors want to treat many diseases, like depression, only with Prozac or Zoloft rather than by talking about what led them to that fall down, has caused a social dependence to medicines that some times are not completely necessary. Therefore, patients today believe that if their doctors don’t prescribe them medications, they are not being really treated, and thus won’t be totally cured. The population has been taught that the only way for treating mental diseases is through the administration of medication, which is an idea that must begin to change.

I think that it is vital to promote the use of therapy and social procedures when it comes to mental diseases. Studies like Dr. Kane’s are helping to find new alternatives to treat these kinds of illnesses and to eradicate wrong ideas that people had about them.  I really think that many diseases such as depression, anorexia and PTSD can be treated with numerous therapy sessions that target the main causes of the problem from the inside. Talking and reflecting about someone’s problems, is something that, even though it may not seem like it, can be very helpful when it comes to psychological issues. I think that if these practices begin to be used commonly, people will learn to decrease the use of medications in some cases. However, I do know that there are some diseases that go beyond of mental issues and that have more to do with the brain’s chemicals and neurons, like bipolarity, schizophrenia, among others. In these cases I do agree that the most efficient way to treat them is via special drugs. The big dilemma that doctors need to solve is when can mental disorders be treated with therapies, and when do they need to be treated with medicines.

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