It's a little difficult for me to know how to respond to this story in the NYT. You can easily see both sides of the argument, but how do you know which side is closer to the truth? I, for one, have good evidence that I most likely suffered from pediatric bipolar disorder albeit a rather idiosyncratic case.
I was frequently volatile up through my middle teens, and as that part of the disorder settled down somewhat the delusional symptoms began to manifest. At one point during high school I thought I was a prophet. I didn't talk much about it, especially if I was talking to people who were skeptical of such things, but I was convinced. Needless to say, my experiences color my perceptions of what it means to be bipolar at an early age.
All that being said, how do we go from 20,000 to 800,000 diagnosed cases per year in ten years? I am wary enough of the predatory practices of Big Pharma to wonder how much of that increase is fueled by its working on doctors. At the same time, I want to see people who need help get it. For all of my animosity toward Big Pharma (and one company in particular), I understand how important meds are to people like me.
What to think?
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1 comment:
It's kind of like kids with autism: how much of it is an increase in the disorder, how much is increased awareness.
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