Do You Really Have a Disorder?

Simply turn on the television or open a magazine and you will soon find startling new evidence concerning a new disease or condition. Drive down the street and you may exhibit signs of your very own "condition." Speeding certainly is a sign of risk taking behaviors or defying authority. Was that anger you felt when someone cut you off ? Oh no, there goes your road rage again. Worried about the big presentation you have to do at work this morning? Oops.. maybe you suffer from an anxiety disorder. Wondering if you remembered to turn off the iron? You must be suffering from OCD.

Disease Mongering

Americans, it seems, are bombarded with a myriad of conditions that threaten our ability to lead a "normal lifestyle". The problem of course, comes in defining that normal lifestyle. Pharmaceutical companies would have you believe you should live perfectly balanced life style where you experience a sense of balance and well being at all times. Should you not exist in a state of perpetual bliss, they have a solution. There is a term for this: Disease Mongering. According to Barbara Mintzes (Disease Mongering in Drug Promotion: Do Governments Have a Regulatory Role? 2006) the definition of disease mongering is: "widening the boundaries of treatable illness in order to expand markets for those who sell and deliver treatments"

The practice of bombarding the public with repeated messages that we are somehow broken and in need of their medications to fix ourselves can, and does, cause Americans to seek medical attention and even request medications for conditions that, pose no real problems in their everyday lifestyle. Drug company advertisements can be very persuasive and often misleading to the unsuspecting consumer.