"Ask your doctor if (fill in name of prescription drug here) is right for you." These words, familiar to every individual who has spent any time at all watching television, are more than just a challenge issued by pharmaceutical companies at the end of their commercials. You've all seen them - the happy, active, healthy people frolicking in piles of autumn leaves, jogging alongside golden retrievers, pushing giddy children on swing sets with the "Claritin" or "Viagra" logo in the bottom right corner of the screen. These people are living their lives free of depression, anxiety, acid reflux disease, Rosacea, sleep deprivation, allergies and all of the "conditions" that haven't been invented yet but will - oh, they will - just as soon as there's a drug without a market for it.
Since the Federal Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997, advertising pharmaceutical products to the general public has been less restricted. Between 1996 and 2000, annual spending on direct-to-consumer advertising tripled and has been growing steadily since. Drug companies claim these advertisements have educational value and prevent symptoms from going under-diagnosed, but their hefty contributions to the trend of medicalization of normal conditions and the negative effects of that trend outweigh any educational value these ads may possess.
Being an active, informed consumer is a good thing. Knowing exactly what you are putting into your body, what it is supposed to do and what its limitations and side effects are, is vitally important. Malpractice happens. Mistakes are made. However, self-diagnosis is a dangerous game to play. Pharmaceutical advertisements are causing patients to approach physicians already convinced that they have a "condition" and already convinced they know what will alleviate or cure it. The danger is that doctors are increasingly becoming little more than prescription-writers. For doctors who don't let the threat of losing patients to competitors who will take orders stop them from being judicious in their prescription-writing, "well informed consumers" like these are just a waste of time. They are forced to unnecessarily explain why treatments don't fit and to waste medical resources. With the rest, pushy patients are getting what they want ... and so are drug companies.
In 1996, Paxil was approved by the FDA as a treatment for depression. Due to the saturation of the anti-depressant market at the time, GlaxoSmithKline, the company behind the drug, requested approval for Paxil to be prescribed for other symptoms classified under anxiety disorders. Paxil gained approval to be a treatment option for general anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD), but because these disorders were both somewhat uncommon diagnoses at the time, GlaxoSmithKline set to work marketing the diseases. Yes, the diseases, not the drug. Millions of dollars poured into "awareness raising" campaigns in which experts and patients joined forces to combat "worry," "shyness", and "fear of public speaking" with Paxil as their weapon of choice. Despite its exemplification of vagueness, Paxil is now the third most recognized prescription drug. GlaxoSmithKline, mission accomplished.
What does this say about us? That where there is discomfort, there can be numbness? Where there is competence, there can be superiority? Where there is normality, there can be enhancement? Allowing ourselves to be persuaded that every irritation and insecurity solicits medical correction, is denying ourselves the promises of Ether 12:27. "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." The quick fixes of medicine are no substitute for the lasting, sustaining influences of divine progress. Of course there are times - many times - when medicine is needed. Countless lives have been saved and miracles performed at the hands of capable doctors and with the help of needed prescription drugs. But over-medicalization cheapens the suffering of those who have truly debilitating conditions and cheats us of opportunities for real growth.
This editorial represents the opinion of The Daily Universe editorial board. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of BYU, its administration or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Special thanks to John Davies and his COMMS 411 students for their comments and input.
Copyright Brigham Young University 21 Nov 2008
