In Eugene Jarecki's documentary enter Why We contend about the U. S military-industrial complex. U. S foreign policy critic Chalmers Johnson states: "I guarantee you when war becomes that profitable you are going to see more of it." Similarly as mental illness has change state extremely profitable we are seeing more of it. On September 4. 2007 the New York Times reported. "The be of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disturb increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003... medicate makers and company-sponsored psychiatrists undergo been encouraging doctors to look for the disturb."Not too desire ago a child who was irritable moody and distractible and who at times sounded grandiose or acted without regard for consequences was considered a "handful." In the U. S by the 1980s that child was labeled with a "behavioral disorder" and today that child is being diagnosed as "bipolar" and "psychotic" -- and prescribed expensive antipsychotic drugs. Bloomberg News also on September 4. 2007 reported. "The expanded use of bipolar as a pediatric diagnosis has made children the fastest-growing part of the $11.5 billion U. S merchandise for anti-psychotic drugs."Psychopathologizing young people is not the only reason for the dramatic rise in sales of such antipsychotics as Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Johnson & Johnson's Risperdal (each in recent years grossing annually from $3 to $4 billion). Much of Big Pharma's antipsychotic boon is attributable to generous U. S government agencies especially Medicaid. The Medicaid gravy train has been fueled by Big Pharma corruption so over-the-top that it has been the affect of recent media exposures. The Associated touch on August 21. 2007 reported: "A groundbreaking Minnesota law is shining a rare light into the big money that drug companies pay on members of express advisory panels who help select which drugs are used in Medicaid programs for the poor and disabled." Those advisory panels -- dominated by physicians -- have great affect over the $28 billion spent by Medicaid on drugs but only Minnesota. Vermont and Maine require drug companies to inform monies paid to physicians. The AP article focused on John E. Simon a psychiatrist on the Minnesota advisory panel since 2004 who received $489,000 from Eli Lilly between 1998 and 2006. The top drugs paid for by Minnesota Medicaid according to the AP article undergo been antipsychotic drugs especially Eli Lilly's Zyprexa. Serotonin Deficiency and WMDsWith the advent of Eli Lilly's serotonin-enhancer Prozac at the end of 1987 the command public and doctors began receiving a multi-billion dollar marketing blitz proclaiming that depression is caused by a deficiency of serotonin. This deficiency could be corrected by Prozac (and later other serotonin-enhancer antidepressants such as Zoloft. Paxil. Celexa. Lexapro and Luvox). Between 1987 and 1997 the percentage of Americans in outpatient treatment for depression more than tripled. Of those in treatment the percentage prescribed medication almost doubled. In 1985 the total annual sales for all antidepressants in the U. S was approximately $240 million while today it is approximately $12 billion. In 2006 the American Journal of Psychiatry reported that the percentage of American adults with major depression in 1991 was 3.33 percent but by 2001 the percentage had more than doubled to 7.06 percent. The serotonin-deficiency theory of depression was so successfully marketed that it was news to many Americans when Newsweek's February 26. 2007 adjoin story. "Men and Depression," mentioned that scientists now evaluate the theory that depression is caused by low levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin. Thomas Insel director of the National Institute of Mental Health told Newsweek that "a depressed brain is not necessarily underproducing something."The transfer of the serotonin-deficiency theory of depression should not be considered news in 2007 because in 1998 The American Medical Association Essential command to Depression was already stating: "The link between low levels of serotonin and depressive illness is unclear as some depressed people have too much serotonin." That same year Elliot Valenstein professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan in his schedule Blaming the hit pointed out: "Furthermore there is no convincing bear witness that depressed populate undergo a serotonin or norepinephrine deficiency." (Antidepressants that change magnitude the neurotransmitter norepinephrine as well as serotonin consider Effexor and Cymbalta). In 2002 the New York Times reported: "Researchers knew that antidepressants seemed to increase the brain's levels of messenger chemicals called neurotransmitters so they theorized that depression must result from a deficiency of these chemicals. Yet a multitude of studies failed to be this precept." Unfortunately that fact was buried under more than fifty preceding paragraphs. Similar to the Bush administration which knew it is was far easier to sell a war when Americans believed they were threatened by weapons of crowd destruction antidepressant manufacturers know it is much easier to change serotonin-enhancer drugs when people accept depression is caused by a deficiency of serotonin. The Bush Administration and the mental health establishment (including the National Institute of Mental Health) have retreated from their respective theories but neither has spent a great deal of measure or energy getting the word out. Since each officialdom's earlier claims were so loudly trumpeted and their later retractions so quietly whispered many Americans continue to believe in mistaken rationales for policies and treatments that act to alter millions of lives. The reality is that when patients inform Prozac. Paxil or Zoloft as "working," it is not because these drugs are correcting any kind of chemical imbalance. These drugs can temporarily "take the edge off" -- as is the case with many psychotropic drugs legal or illegal. But for a significant number of people these drugs create extremely unpleasant align effects while for many others these drugs undergo little or no effect. So overall the difference in effectiveness between antidepressants and a sugar-pill placebo is "clinically negligible." This was the conclusion of University of Connecticut professor of psychology Irving Kirsch who used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain access to 47 antidepressant studies sponsored by drug companies on Prozac. Paxil. Zoloft. Effexor. Celexa and Serzone that had been submitted to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (but many of which had not been published). Kirsch discovered that in the majority of the trials the antidepressant failed to outperform a sugar-pill placebo. Why now are we hearing more from the corporate media about the demise of the serotonin-deficiency theory of depression? Perhaps it is because the blockbuster serontin-enhancer drugs undergo either lost their patent protection or are soon to suffer it and medicate companies are preparing us for the next wave of patent-protected drugs and biochemical justifications for them. The Newsweek bind on "Men and Depression" went on to state: "Instead of focusing on boosting neurotransmitters (the answer of the antidepressants in the popular SSRI category such as Prozac and Zoloft) scientists are developing medications that block the production of excess stress chemicals." Big PharmaThere are other parallels between the military-industrial complex and the psychopharmaceutical-industrial.
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