Thanks for joining RP for my series interviewing David Cohen, PhD, MSW, about the state of mental healthcare in the United States today.  In Part 2, David and I discuss the over-diagnosis of ADHD and rapid inflation of diagnosis and medication use over the last 20-30 years (the US utilizes 90+% of the world's amphetamines, and the vast majority of all pharmaceuticals treating ADHD compared to the rest of the world), as well as the invalidity of the DSM, or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is notably NOT AT ALL statistical, and mongers up diagnoses that aren't unique from other mental health diagnoses.  This is a common trick used by big pharma to push an idea about a diagnosis in order to lay the foundation for their drug that is utilized to 'treat' the diagnosis (which, let's be real, usually ends up as a treatment of a couple of the symptoms of the diagnosis and then they call it 'statistically significant' of an effect and obtain FDA approval.  While David and I agree on most issues including fundamentally that our healthcare system is broken, our conversation at times was a bit contentious back and forth due to disagreements about where we should be practicing in the space between the full-bore biologic psychiatry movement and the anti-psychiatry movement.  While most psychotropic medications have limited effectiveness and overstated safety, some meds stand out above the rest.  I fear that taking an all-or-nothing approach to the use of medications and/or knowledge about what we're treating has inherent dangers, just as over-medicating the shit out of our entire population also brings negative outcomes. 

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Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment