Happily Ever After

I have a hypothesis (keep in mind that it is only an hypothesis) that the reason mental illness cases are on the rise, and are especially on the rise in the US and Western Europe, is because the number of psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors are on the rise. Universities are pumping out those degrees and those new “Doctors” must have patients, right?

On a side note, I had a doctor start me on Cholesterol meds once. When I went back for a follow-up, he ran tests and said, “Great! I see the meds are pulling your cholesterol levels back down! I will write you out a full prescription.”

Except that I never took them. The levels went down on their own. That was 15 years ago. I have no doubt that had I taken them then I would still be on them today, and we now know what those statins can do to you as far as liver damage and diabetes.

All right, back to my point.

Let’s say there’s a kid who isn’t doing well in school. We’ll call him Little Huck. Let’s say that Huck is a little wild, has trouble sitting still, doesn’t like to read, isn’t eating right, is almost unmanageable even. I knew a kid just like that once! Classic signs of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, right? Well, those are also classic signs of poor parenting. But wait, the parents are bringing the cash cow to the bank, so why would the doctors blame them? Instead, let’s let the bad parent off the hook, call it ADHD, prescribe Adderall, Daytrana, Dexedrine and Ritalin for… well, for life, right? Forever follow-up visits, forever prescriptions, and little brothers and sisters coming up the ladder-all.

So now our boy Huck is 17. Little Huck has been on those drugs since he was 12. He is moody now, hardly eats, has no friends, few interests, chews his nails, is scared of everything. No problem… just a little anxiety, they tell us. A little Xanax will take care of that, or Valium, or Ativan? Hell, we’ll try them all til we find one that works best for Poor Lil’ Huck ;)

But now Huck is 19. He has been on one, or probably a combo, of those drugs and Lithium for 7 years, and he is showing the effects from it. He is lazy, lethargic, depressed… you know the type, the Paxil, Zoloft type. The type that is addicted to all sorts of prescription and non-prescription drugs now, hates his parents, dropped out of school, steals, and is unwelcome at Thanksgiving dinner when all he really needed was more outside time, structure and discipline as a child.

But no worries! We still have that shrink who will work very hard at keeping Huck alive and insured so that she can keep up the payments on that new Lexus SUV that gets her kids to soccer practice. We wouldn’t want HER kids on all those meds now, would we?

But hey, I am no expert, so please don’t be too hard on Old Huckleberry now that you’ve read this.

It IS only a hypothesis, adder all.

(Was shooting for the bonus points, but doubt I’ll get’em, as somehow my straight-shooting hypothesis’ generally make me out the bad guy in the court of popular opinion.)