Answer to the question: "Why do the American people go along with this?"

"Is everybody crazy?" Writer Jim Windolf posed the question in an October 1997 issue of the New York Observer, and then answered it himself with numbers.

If you add up all the psychological ailments Americans complain of, the portrait that emerges is a nation of basket-cases. Ten million suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. Fourteen million are alcoholics. Fifteen million are pathologically socially anxious. Fifteen million are depressed. Three million suffer panic attacks. Ten million have Borderline Pathology Disorder. Twelve million have "restless legs." Five million are obsessive/compulsive. Two million are manic depressive. Ten million are addicted to sex. Factoring in wild-card afflictions like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity, and allowing for overlap (folks suffering from more than one problem), Windolf concluded that "77 percent of the adult population is a mess." With a couple of new quantifiable disorders, "everybody in the country will be officially nuts."

His cheeky point is that Americans are turning into annoyingly self-absorbed hypochondriacs. Why? Because they can.

- Taken from the book 'Culture Jam' by Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters Magazine, p. 10

There's money in making people think they are ill isn't there?

Natural things are now ailments to be corrected.

If you sweat, have too much hair, not enough hair, too anxious, not anxious enough, to potent , impotent etc etc. there's always someone willing to create and prey on an insecurity.

It's really fucking nasty if you think about it.

on edit. This is just a theory. I also believe that there's an element of ensuring a compliant consumer society in this too. Needs some refining.

"The Neurotic Personality of our Time"
by Dr. Karen Horney. Published 1937.

It is prophetic- truly.
BHN

She suggested that men suffer from "womb envy."

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/horney.html

The True Believer.
They go hand in hand.
We have become the True Believers,
and frankly I am sickened to the seat of my soul
by the stark reality of how perfectly Hoffer describes
America 2004.
Going to New Zealand in November, looking for
property and a job. I can't take it anymore,
it's going to get much worse before it gets better
and life is too short.
BHN

Damn it.

I love it when they give pills to 2 years olds that jump around, do not talk well, mess their pants every few days, cry for no reason you can see, and in general turn the house up side down. Every mother I knew laughed and said I will be glad when he is three, but now they give him a pill.My mother used to turn me over to two teen-age girls to keep up with me, and to camp in the Summer.Now I would be sick not just a very busy tom boy.

I've heard from people who have gone through therapy for stupid stuff that consider themselves to be experts. One of these so-called "experts" tried to tell me I was in need of therapy and that I was "in denial" because I told this misguided "expert" that I didn't need therapy and that sometimes I'm just in a bad mood or have a bad day.

A friend of mine whose mother died a couple years ago suddenly and who had to nurse a beloved pet through an illness and death two weeks before seeing the doctor was told she needed antidepressants and her GENERAL PRACTITIONER prescribed them for her in two doses and told her to choose the most effective dosage. I guess if people aren't chipper after seeing two many loved ones die too close together, that means they're clinically depressed.

If it quacks like a duck...

I don't suffer any of those afflictions.

How unAmerican of me.

What have you got in the way of sloth and indolence?

:mad:

I think some of this is physician and pharmaceutical corporation induced hypochondria.

You've got to convince people they need the miracle cure in order to sell the miracle cure so you can make the big bucks.

On Edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to be redundant by posting what someone else had already suggested. But I did make a good point about the PMS, no?

:shrug:

about the PMS. Another good one is peri-menopause, and menopause in general.
How many drugs can they come up with to treat things that aren't diseases?

and I think there are clearly way more people suffering these things in the western world than in the third world where one's time is taken up by more pressing matters such as what can I eat today and whoops here comes another bomb, I think we can take sarcasm towards it a bit too far, to say "How many drugs can they come up with to treat things that aren't diseases?" is a bit facetious, a headache or toothache isn't a disease either but many of us pop a pill for that quite happily but get a little sanctimonius at the thought of drug therapies for depression, anxiety etc.

Guess this is one of the few issues where I don't see it all in black and white

...are sociopathic enough to enlist in Bush's military prior to, or exactly at, the time US killing actions in defenseless nations on the other side of the world are taking place? Speaking of dysfunctionalities! Just wondering.

I'm American myself, but I've lived in Europe for over 10 years now, first in Ireland and now in Holland for the last 2.5 years. I'm always stunned when I go back to the US and read/hear all the ads for prescription meds. In Ireland and Holland, if you're sick, you go to the GP or huisarts, tell them about it, and they make recommendations about what drugs to take or, more often, not. This notion of clipping out a full colour add from a magazine and asking your doc to prescribe is insane to me. As others have stated above, most of these ailments are marketing tools for pharmaceutical cos. Don't fall for it.

of irresponsibility. All these syndromes people are afflected with sound like to me just an excuse for saying "I am not responsible for my life, I am sick."

There is an entire industry devoted to explaining to us that we are not assholes, just sick.

and he pointed out the INSANITY of treating symptoms instead of the real issues. Like- we give people drugs for high BP. Drugs for diabetes. Drugs for irritible bowel syndrome. Drugs for heartburn. Drugs for heart disease. Drugs for obesity. All of that when all we really have to do is address the root cause of all of those things in many people who suffer them (NOT ALL ok?)- the food we eat!

He talked about how we are a drug addicted nation and how insane it all was.

Media manipulated... :cry: :mad: :cry:

"One of my favorite Bill Mahr rants was on this...and he pointed out the INSANITY of treating symptoms instead of the real issues. Like- we give people drugs for high BP. Drugs for diabetes. Drugs for irritible bowel syndrome. Drugs for heartburn. Drugs for heart disease. Drugs for obesity. All of that when all we really have to do is address the root cause of all of those things in many people who suffer them (NOT ALL ok?)- the food we eat!

He talked about how we are a drug addicted nation and how insane it all was."


I thought he was a big advocate for legalizing all recreational drug use. Why is he then opposed to others getting drugs merely because they're prescribed?

I don't disagree with him about the former, but the latter seems a tad hypocritical on his part to me--unless it's addiction to drugs that he's opposed to and not the drugs themselves. He's not naive, so he must know that drug use, whether of prescribed or street drugs, comes with the possibility of some users becoming addicted.

O.K., I admit it--Bill Mahr gets on my nerves and I just wanted to pick on him a bit.

America sick. My son suffers from horrible food and environmental allergies. Two of my three children have Asperger's Syndrome (a mild form of autism). Autism has increased over 500% in the last 12 years - an increase that cannot be explained away by more cases of diagnosis. The number of kids in my class with severe behavior disorders, asthma, and other medical problems increases each year. This year, I have 9 kids with ADHD, one with Tourette's Syndrome, two with seizure disorder, one with bipolar disorder (believe me it's not imagined with this one, and one with some, as yet, undiagnosed emotional behavior disorder (if he makes it to 15 before ending up in jail I will be greatly surprised - and he comes from a perfectly normal family - dad is a university professor, mom a bank manager). I also have 5 kids with severe asthma who have regular attacks at school (pretty much on a daily basis). We are poisoning ourselves with our pollution and the crap that is being added to our food supply. Yes, with the advent of psychotropic drugs, there are more people being diagnosed with disorders that folks once probably just lived with, but I don't think the increase can be blamed on this factor alone. I really think that we are killing ourselves slowly with our lifestyle.

Talked to my daughter who just graduated from Georgetown this past weekend and she said half the kids are on Ritalin or something for ADD, ADHD, depression,etc. It's really frightening.

shop the perimeter of the store

I also belong to a co-op. I stay out of conventional grocery stores all together as much as possible. I go there only for the stuff I can't get at the whole foods store (tp, paper towels, pet food, etc.)

I believe that all the chemicals, hormone, etc in the food supply is makin"...
America sick.

People aren't supposed to eat chemicals and additives and artificial colors.

When I left teaching about fifteen years ago, we had kids with "minimal brain dysfunction," which meant that they didn't see or hear or process information in quite the same way as most people do. That I could accept, being someone who has about a 50/50 chance of getting "right" and "left" correct myself... and consequently never daring to give anyone directions to any place.

But now, judging from what you are saying and what I'm hearing from some of my friends who stayed in teaching, kids are showing up with the kinds of problems that can't be addressed by a little extra help or varying teaching methods. What are these kids going to do when they are adults? I feel sorry for them, but I don't know that I want any of them living in my neighborhood either.

But as far as what Will was talking about, with adults developing all these disorders, I think that with all our "toys" and all our "power jobs" and all our alleged "prosperity"... things that were supposed to make everyone happy... a lot of folks are coming to the point where they are asking themselves: "Is that all there is?"

We know all the hows and whats and whens of life, but we still don't get exactly why.

- Americans 'go along with this' because there is little or no opposition to 'it' in our government.

Big donor$... Gotta control those import/export deal$.

Love those "ask your doctor" come-ons. :eyes: :wtf: :eyes:
Privatized healthcare is a very sick concept.

Media manipulation is a very sick concept.

America is one very sick puppy. What to do? What to do? :cry:

the US and New Zealand. Anyone know if New Zealanders are also as over-medicated as Americans are compared to the rest of the world?

If people wonder why they pay so much more for their drugs than people in other countries, don't buy the line about the cost of research. Drug companies spend 2 to 3 times more on ADVERTISING than they do on R&D. Seniors can't afford their meds because they are footing the bill for all of those obnoxious ads for erectile dysfunction drugs.

:hi: PA DEMOCRAT!!! Welcome to DU!!! :hi:

is so much easier to manipulate.

BTW...the only money I have to live on is my retirement from a Big Pharma Company and small inheritance...so I say this in total honesty.

And..Yes..I've voted against every disgusting proposal in my "Proxy Vote" to stop them from "Apartheid in Africa" down to the latest stuff they are pushing through.

But...when their stock goes up..I know that I might still be able to live in an "affordable trailer park." This is the American Myth! And, it's being clung to. We believe in the companies who employ us..until we cause trouble and are thrown out. Then we need to believe in them for pensions or now 401-K's.

Get It? The SYSTEM has us BY THE BALLS! Even us "Progressive Leaning" folks need $$$'s

In the end..we will toady and cave when it comes into "our house," and how and what we do with our lives when society wants to say we are "too old and not productive anymore."

We will suck up and cave..because the alternative is death and "Potters Field."

- Americans 'go along with this' because there is little or no opposition to 'it' in our government.


Really, Q... I think we have to take some responsibility for ourselves here. We can't expect "our government" to watch out for us in everything we do.

It's up to each of us to demand research on the effects of food additives, for instance, and for each of us to insist that our kids eat healthy foods. Sufficient numbers of people simply have to refuse to buy into the medicated life.

Our government isn't going to do anything to displease the pharmaceutical companies that donate huge amounts to both political parties. We who are the consumers are the only ones who can make changes.

and my family has a very long history of psychiatric problems going back to great great great aunt Isabel in Argentina.

It's become just as trendy to say that Americans pop a pill for every little thing. But just because psychiatric medications are overprescribed doesn't mean some of us don't need 'em. If anti-depressants had been around 100 years ago, they could've spared my grandparents and parents a lot of suffering.

That couldn't possibly be true. They must have meant ten million aren't addicted to sex. Otherwise humanity would be an endangered species.

(2nd paragraph) I just did. The total is 96 million. I think the "10 million addicted to sex" needs to be tossed out of the list. Of the remaining 86 million (almost one-third the entire population), I think there is a huge amount of overlap in the list that Jim Windolf has overlooked. These ailments are more or less related to each other. A person could easily fall into more than one category, thus reducing the total 86 million.

Maybe it's because we've been trained to listen to they who diagnose. Perhaps our society has created an educated overclass, who in order to justify their existences and paychecks must make others think there's something wrong with them, when there really isn't much wrong other than a slight deviation from a synthetic mean called a "normal" or "healthy" person.

I tend to agree with many of the other posts in this thread. What about stress as a psychological condition and which results in a perceived aliment? The stress of living paycheck-to-paycheck, with no or very little disposable income? The stress of being poor. Then contrasting that with those like CEOs who are making millions per year, every year, and living like kings. What about the stress of living an honest life, and seeing those who are most dishonest rise to the top? A class of leaders who do the bidding of those who pay them (ahem, 'donate to campaigns' ) to write corporate legislation into law, but who ignore the letters, thoughts and desires of the governed at all times except during election time when the candidates need that precious vote so they can be elected and ultimately do the bidding of the corporations?

There are so many strong push/pull or divisive forces in our society today that I'm not surprised people "feel" sick.

I believe people who are in denial really do know how sick our society is. They know how hard they work and how little they get paid. They know how corrupt their leaders and bosses are. En masse, they know their education didn't really pay off for them. Since they're in denial, they internalize this stress resulting in perceived aliment, and they happily take a pill and pay their money, in the fervent hope they really will "feel" better.

When they go to the doctor, are they told the problem is the sick society and there's really not much the doctor can do about it? No-- The answer they receive is what doctors themselves are trained to do, "here's a pill, take it with water." If you don't feel better in a few days, call me again.

It's all a part of the 'educational' mind control to shift the blame for a sick society toward individuals in order to avoid meaningful change in established and corrupt institutions.

Thanks for fleshing out everyone's suspicion that some of this is manufactured demand that covers all the bases. 1) give them enough environmental and monetary stress to make them sick, and 2) make them think they need a pill to cure it.

I know there are those who need the drugs, but I also know I was prescribed Paxil when I casually mentioned I had a hard time handling the big city. The doctor immediately ordered me to take a pill I said I didn't need. My doctor knows best, right?

This was 5 years ago and I'm convinced the practice is more widespread now. The drug worked for a while, eradicating not only my depression but also my zeal; for sex and dance and poetry and all those things the spirit needs to heal the mind and body. It taught me to question doctors, which eventually led to a midwife catching my baby in my own damn bed.

Lifesaving drugs filtered through big pharma's hold on doctors and congress can become life stealing drugs. It saddens me that even our most educated professionals are becoming so seduced by money that they are blind to the harm they do. "McDoctors: good afternoon! Would you like some valium with that Supersize Levitra?"

I'd like to know just how the author allowed for overlap - was it done scientifically? Adding up all those numbers is meaningless. And I think mental health issues are easy to dismiss when they're not your own. I don't take any psych drugs, but I'm glad they're available if I ever needed them. Suppose a person suffers from OCD; why not take medication to control it and lead a functional life?

ON EDIT: And having a mental health issue doesn't necessarily lead to impaired political judgement.

The Big Lie

By Nicholas von Hoffman, tomdispatch.com
May 23, 2004

The frightening shark swimming with toothy grin in a giant aquarium does not see the human faces looking in from the other side of the glass. The shark is in a world of its own, with its own reality. Like the shark, Americans don't see the people outside the glass. It is as though America is in a 3,000-mile-wide terrarium, an immense biosphere which has cut it off from the rest of the world and left it to pick its own way down the path of history. By the time the American army stepped into Iraq, the difference in world view between the United States and everybody else had grown to the size of the hole in the ozone layer over the South Pole.

A fanciful explanation for the two realities is that the United States is the continent-wide set for a large scale re-enactment of the movie The Truman Show. The plot of that movie has the well-intentioned but naive hero go about his daily life without any suspicion that he is, in fact, in a gigantic soap opera. His hometown is actually the set for the TV show and from earliest childhood he has been manipulated and controlled by the producer and the director. The enthusiastic acceptance by the American multitudes of the Iraqi stuff-and-nonsense coming out of the White House would be understandable if we were all living on a stage set in a village called Freedom Island threatened by a town called Evil Axis.
more:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18765

In 87, I stopped drinking, stopped eating sugar and dairy, meat and flour. Went off all meds. No more manic episodes. None. I deal with life. It sucks sometimes, but I'm not "under the influence" of anything.

a friend of mine diagnosed when she was in her late teens tried pretty much every "natural" remedy for her bi-polar and in her "depressive" states you could almost think they were working as her downs were on par with some of us who are just moody bastards! but on her manic days it was pretty clear she needed to try something else - in the ten years from her diagnosis to now the only time she's able to function has been on prescribed meds.

There's no one cure that fits everyone with these things and I think saying "it's all bullshit" is a dangerous as saying "it's all a syndrome/disease that needs medicating"

have thought I might be "more subdued" on the meds...I've forgone the use of them. It might "dampen my OUTRAGE!!!!!" WHICH IS HUGE!!! That's why i shout...why i shout...:-)'s

:D

first films? The whole society is medicated and lives in
fear. The film had some kind of number in the title. One scene has
Robert Duvall talking to someone or something about his
need for more medication. The upshot was that the society
was medicated to control? the people and keep them from
breaking free. Interesting. on edit THX1138, Lucas made the film as a student. I forgot to add that this film was supposedly a sci-fi remake of 1984.

"Why Americans Fear the Wrong Things. Why are so many fears in the air, and so many of them unfounded."

A great well researched read.

People get bored at their desk and like to walk around a bit?

washed.

Houston, we got BIG TIME PROBLEMS.

No wonder we got a nutcase Prez.