Mental Illness Over-Diagnosed?

Are we over-diagnosing mental illness?

Committee trying to block new diagnostic manual's release

Author: By Katti Gray Special to CNN

Published On: Mar 16 2013 09:01:48 AM EDT Updated On: Mar 16 2013 11:57:35 AM EDT

(CNN) -
To ease the heartache of her first child's stillbirth, Kelli Montgomery chose rigorous exercise, yoga and meditation over the antidepressants and sleeping pills that her physicians immediately suggested.

"'You need to be on this medication or that medication.' It was shocking to me that that was the first line of defense," said Montgomery, 42, director of the MISS Foundation for Grieving Families in Austin, Texas. "From the time I was in the hospital to when I was seeing my general practitioner, that's what they were insisting on."

Her choice stemmed partly from a longtime aversion to taking prescription drugs. It was also the result of listening to a growing group of psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers from around the world who argue that depression and other normal responses to life's toughest challenges are too often labeled as disorders -- and as such, demand medicine with sometimes dangerous side effects.

Protesters such as Montgomery contend diagnoses of serious psychological and psychiatric disorders have also needlessly skyrocketed alongside the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' expanding list of what constitutes mental illness. The manual is considered the bible of psychiatry because it's the criteria mental health professionals use to diagnose patients...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/lifes...ness/-/2300442/19343716/-/3mikic/-/index.html

To an extent I believe this.

IMO mental illness does exist. But unlike cancer, heart disease or other physical diseases there are no tests to prove or disprove them. Or if the tests exist, they are considered too expensive or are not widely available. (Example PET scans)

Over the years I have had several mental health diagnoses. Some are similar, some contradict. All I know is that different time periods in my life, different psychiatrists different diagnosis. Thus some treatments are unsuccessful, some marginally successful, and some actually worked..... at least temporarily.

Mental health history shows a lot of experimentation and outlandish or even cruel treatments. To an extent I don't think it is stopped completely. Instead give an MH diagnosis, throw some meds at it and see if it works. If not then either throw more meds at them or sedate them.

There are lots of studies out there on new wonder meds, new uses for existing meds. And very little study for alternative treatments, diagnosis testing and more effective guidelines on actually how to treat proven diagnoses.

I believe mental illness is real also, having worked with clients who were very ill and under mental care, and having experienced it to an extent myself with depression.

One of my concerns is the number of homeless people who are mentally ill and not receiving the care they need. Many are veterans who have suffered during the wars and are still suffering in their minds.

My greatest concern is that children are sometimes misdiagnosed and prescribed medicines that can affect them for the rest of their lives, or are being under diagnosed and receive no help. One example:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Is Both Under and Over Diagnosed, Study Suggests

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121019141124.htm

A substantial number of children being treated for ADHD may not have the disorder, while many children who do have the symptoms are going untreated, according to the 10-year Project to Learn about ADHD in Youth (PLAY) study funded by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

"Childhood ADHD is a major public health problem. Many studies rely on parent reporting of an ADHD diagnosis, which is a function of both the child's access to care in order to be diagnosed, and the parent's perception that there is a problem," said Robert McKeown, of the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health, who led the South Carolina portion of the study............

The study, conducted between 2002-2012, was a collaborative research project with the University of South Carolina's Arnold School and School of Medicine and the University of Oklahoma's Health Sciences Center.........

"The findings of our study suggest that a fair number of children are being treated who do not meet case criteria and that there are children who do meet criteria but are not being treated," McKeown said. "ADHD is not a snap diagnosis. It requires data from several sources and across several domains and considerable expertise to diagnose accurately and differentiate from other possible problems."

Children and adolescents with ADHD also were found to have high rates of other disorders, including oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. They also were more likely to engage in risky or impulsive behaviors, he said..............more at link.....

I personally had a horrific experience with psychiatric "help." The antidepressants I've been prescribed had terrible side effects, including ones that landed me in the emergency room. I feel like my future is destroyed because of the havoc the medication wreaked on my ability to function as a student. I decided to blindly complain to a doctor about my traumatic past. The doctor just prescribed some SSRIs and SRNIs to shut me up. And when I had such severe side effects such as vomiting, nausea, fainting, distended gallbladder, weight loss, etc., I was basically blamed for them. Totally unsympathetic. I was kept getting told the side effects would go away in a few weeks but they never did. By simply seeking help for all the abuse I've already been put through, I only made everything much worse. Ironic, eh?

Yes, mental illness is way over-diagnosed. I blame the greed of Big Pharma and how it lures in vulnerable, gullible souls like mine, who only wanted to improve their situation, but only resulted in the opposite. I suppose there are people who have had positive experiences with psychiatry but I cannot relate to them.

I think anxiety and milder depression due to life's problems may be over diagnosed and medication given, but not other mental problems. Women have always been labeled as mental when having unexplained symptoms, and that probaby hasn't changed lately.

I believe some people honestly have issues within them that they need medication to balance themselves. I also think some people need meds to block out the bad stuff so they can start dealing with it without all the emotions getting in the way(initially).