Disease Mongering

Bipolar - it's cool! When you get it, your doctor gives you mood stabilisers. They have got to be kidding. Miraculous drugs which bring you down a bit when you are too up and up a bit when you are too down. They even have kiddie books to educate the kids about it - educate!! There is an epidemic of this disease as the diagnostic gateway opens wider and wider.

Who believes this stuff!

A recent book, The Bipolar Child [32], brings out the extent of the current mania. Published in 2000, this book sold 70,000 hardback copies in six months in the US. As the Star Telegram reported in July 2000 [33], The Bipolar Child made all the difference to Heather Norris, whose mother, after reading it, challenged her physician to correct Heather's diagnosis from ADHD, treatment of which had made her daughter worse, to the correct diagnosis of bipolar disorder. As a result, Heather, at the age of two, became the youngest child in Tarrant County, Texas, to have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Bipolar used to be an uncommon diagnosis. It now claims 5% of the population. Graph below shows medline search results for the term mood stabiliser by year and number of articles found.

Disease mongering - they had a conference in Perth Australia on this subject not too long ago. Transcripts of the various talks are available on line - click here.

The drug companies aren't the enemy - they do what they are supposed to do. They make money for their shareholders. It's medical opinion leaders who are the problem. Follow the $$$$s.