Report: 1 in 5 of US adults on behavioral meds

[Ichingcarpenter]

(AP) -- More than 20 percent of American adults took at least one drug for conditions like anxiety and depression in 2010, according to an analysis of prescription data, including more than one in four women.


The report, released Wednesday by pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc., found that use of drugs for psychiatric and behavioral disorders rose 22 percent from 2001. The medications are most often prescribed to women aged 45 and older, but their use among men and in younger adults climbed sharply. In adults 20 to 44, use of antipsychotic drugs and treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder more than tripled, and use of anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax, Valium and Ativan rose 30 percent from a decade ago.

The statistics were taken from Medco's database of prescriptions and is based on 2.5 million patients with 24 months of continuous prescription drug insurance and eligibility.



http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-adults-behavioral-meds.html





US attorney busting pot clinics looks like she's on something else than pot.

[aquart]

1. We're under STRESS.

[annabanana]

9. yes

While some of this may be over-prescription, maybe even most of it, the extra pain caused by dire economic situation can exacerbate emotional and psychological difficulties. I'm a little leary of the above stats, but I know that those meds can be lifesavers when properly used.

[court jester]

2. yikes that is a scary looking woman...

"looks like she's on something else than pot."

indeed

Humans have existed in our present form for what, 100,000 yrs or more, without the following:

Advair, Symbicort, Ritalin, Concerta, Strattera, Adderall, Effexor, Cymbalta, Pristiq, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Lipitor, Crestor, Tamoxifen, Ambien, Lyrica, Topamax, Lamictal, Humira, Prolia and Chantix...

to name just a few that are sold to the overdrugged populace every 14 minutes on daytime television with the blessings of the woman above that looks insane...

http://truthisscary.com/2011/01/the-14-most-dangerous-pharmaceuticals-on-the-market

What about the kids?? What will they think upon gazing at old people telling them they need the next new pill every other commercial break?

almost everyone's gone insane at the same time, it seems

"Herb is the healing of a Nation"-- Hon. Robert Nesta Marley O.M.

and Herb isn't nearly as dangerous as the Lunestra butterfly.... and isn't that butterfly cool!

cooler than this even, because the poor camel was banned (and his wealth presumably confiscated) while the butterfly is allowed to go forth and multiply...



Hey Kids! Having trouble sleeping? Hop on the Green Butterfly! (but make sure you get a prescription first)...



What a disgrace...

[malaise]

3. 2001?

Wasn't that the year of the Dumbya Bush inauguration?
Big pharma's non-stop brainwashing advertising on TV is working

[CoffeeCat]

4. Nice profits for Big Pharma...

Big Pharma has done such a spectacular job of convincing Americans that pills
are the answer to all of their problems.

It's really a shame. We're all so pulled inward--in our own little pain bubbles--medicated
inside ourselves and never really getting to the root of our problems.

Well. They needed to make more profits--and they have.

And you can bet that their goal is to get every single man, woman and child on some kind
of "behavioral med". They've only got 1/5th of us--and there's still plenty of warm bodies
out there who aren't on anything.

Are we stressed out? Depressed? Do we have anxiety? YES. However, the answer isn't
always taking pills. But we've got sales reps from the pharmaceutical industry pushing
this stuff on doctors--to the point that if you say you're sad or experiencing stress or
that you've just lost a loved one or that your job is challenging, or that you don't
feel comfortable socializing in groups---well hey--don't you worry about that sweetie because
we've got a pill for that.

Doctors are becoming Pez dispensers for what big Pharma is selling, and it's out of control.

It's very sad and I believe it's numbing out our society.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. All that crap goes into the sewer...we should have very calm rats

and alligators in NYC.

[CoffeeCat]

6. We should send down a list of side effects....

...to the rats and alligators then.

Uh, hey sewer creatures--if you experience numbing of the hands and feet, swelling of the face, bleeding from the eyes,
liver damage, kidney implosion or suicidal thoughts or tendencies--just relax, it's normal!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. Chuckle.... heh heh.... birth control has had its impact on the fishes

in the rivers.... some not so male now.

[sarcasmo]

17. The advertising dollar they spend to pimp their pills is crazy.

Makes you wonder if the attorney general busting the marijuana stores is getting a kick back from a pharmaceutical company?

[Syrinx]

7. "soma"

Lenina shook her head. "Was and will make me ill," she quoted, "I take a gramme and only am."

The past and future make me sick but a gram of soma makes it okay.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

[WildNovember]

10. How prescient Huxley & Orwell were. It's really astonishing when you go through each point.

[SpiralHawk]

8. Wow - what a photo

Stomping out the naturally growing herb, and shoving oodles of manufacture, synthetic chemical profit-based crapola down the gullets of Americans.

Sick.

[xchrom]

11. recommend

[underpants]

12. That explains Fox News and Dancing with the Stars

:crazy:

[hifiguy]

14. Well, without my Cymbalta

I am pretty much useless, especially when I have what a therapist called "a major depressive episode." With it I am productive, stable and as happy as I am capable of being. The same therapist once opined that I am naturally dysphoric. I've never noticed any side effects, so I guess I am one of the lucky ones.

I smoked dope for years, partly to alleviate social anxiety, which I later learned is not uncommon (the social anxiety, not the pot smoking :hippie:) in people dx'd Asperger's, which I have been.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

15. I'm the 20%!

I'd rather not be in a psychiatric hospital. Been there twice already.

[stillwaiting]

16. Big pharma's shooting for 30% by 2020 no doubt.

Some of those individuals probably don't even need to be on them.

I was on a benzodiazepine for much, much, MUCH longer than I needed to be because my doctor told me that they were not physically or psychologically addictive, I trusted him, and every time I tried to quit taking them I had a stress overload that I attributed to myself instead of the drug. I got addicted when the internet was in its infancy. I can't tell you how it felt to realize one day that you were a drug addict for a decade of your life, and you didn't even know it. All of the stress I dealt with from trying to quit the drug was due to withdrawal symptoms, and I attributed it to my own emotional state. Very, very bad situation.

It was a very frustrating experience because I genuinely believed I didn't need them anymore, and truthfully I didn't.

After I found out about the need to taper off the drug I became furious with my doctor. The VERY first time I tapered off the drug I was successful in kicking it to the curb. It wasn't a problem. At all. And I've never needed it again. I needed it for situational anxiety and I ended up being a drug addict for 10 years, on a roller coaster from hell, simply because I trusted my doctor's advice.

I will NEVER trust a doctor at his own word again without doing my own research to back up his recommendations. Many of them are effectively incentivized drug dealers. I have been able to prevent several family members and friends from potentially becoming drug addicts by forewarning them. Their doctors ALSO told them that benzos were not addictive. This advice is simply not true. They might not be addictive for everyone, but for many individuals they certainly can be addictive. The number of horror stories regarding improper withdrawal from this class of drugs is devastating.

This post is not against the use of benzodiazepines. It's a simple warning that they can be addictive, and one needs to taper off of them or else there can be horrific long-term health consequences.