There has been a drastic influx in discussions involving those affected by mental illnesses and how they are being treated for those illnesses, such as depression or ADHD. The use of antidepressants and other psychotropic medications to alter and treat the emotional status of the patients has shown a steady increase in quantity. Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in many every day activities. In the DSM-IV the criteria for Major Depressive Disorder is to have a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities for more than two weeks. Many mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or anxiety can mimic symptoms of depression, which can lead to misdiagnosis’ or overmedicating. Some patients will have anxiety, then develop depression and vice versa; which can be extremely tricky to identify, especially when comorbidity is prevalent. Comorbidity is the presence of one or more additional diseases or disorders co-occurring within the body or mind. Uncertainty litters the medical field, undoubtedly so, but it is hurting those who put their mental health in the hands of physicians who are struggling to effectively treat the increasing variations of these disorders. The population has accepted the standards put forth by the physicians who are responsible for diagnosing and treating illnesses, but these standards are becoming far too inclusive and the diagnosis far to occurrent which in turn leads to an overmedicated society.

Comorbidity rates have been studied and referenced in many works concerning the proper treatment and medication of depression and anxiety, since these are the two most common disorders found together. This being said, “The concurrent presence of anxiety symptoms or anxiety disorders often complicates the treatment of depressive disorders” which can lead to the under-diagnosis of depression over all. Twenty-four percent of those once treated for uncomplicated generalized anxiety disorder were found at the end of three years to be diagnosed with a depressive disorder (Zhiguo). This article represents depression as a disorder that is under-diagnosed due to the complexity of comorbidity as a diagnosis. The opposite is to be taken from this information however, due to the outstanding evidence that those who suffer from anxiety often end up developing depression or being mistaken as someone with depression-like symptoms. The study referenced by Zhiguo, WU and FANG Yiru was conducted in China and it was found that many doctors would diagnose patients with “… ‘depression accompanied with anxious symptoms.’” This diagnosis skyrockets the number of patients in the end being associated with depression.

The medical field is divisive but when patients with mental disorders are involved it is extremely variant in treatment methods. Treatment is all about how the patient’s symptoms present themselves to the doctor that they are seeing. Depending on the patient’s symptoms and whether they line up with the definition of depression that the doctor is referencing will be a deciding factor on what kind of treatment the patient will receive. A prominent issue that then presents itself is that, “Many medical schools [did] not provide sufficient education about psychiatric diagnosis, psychopharmacology, or psychotherapy for depression” (Hirschfeld). Psychostimulants are becoming a common household item, there is no shock in finding either the adults or children in any given home having a prescription. It has been proven that children who do not qualify under the criteria for ADHD are then “treated with psychostimulants” (Merten). instead of official ADHD medications. There is an obvious issue with the over diagnosing of the world’s population and medicating on a symptom by symptom basis which should be a patient by patient basis. 

There are many who suffer from depression and fail to receive adequate diagnosis as well as treatment due to the lack of time physicians have to treat psychiatric disorders effectively. The display of how inconsistent our health care system is leads to the uncertainty of how people can be truly helped if so many are not, “…only about 1 in 10 of those suffering from depression received adequate treatment” (Hirschfield). Many physicians simply gauge mental disorders off how a patient fills out his or her questionnaire referencing any variation in their mood and actions. The National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association (NDMDA) got together for a conference in which they presented “…that the age of onset had decreased, and the overall risk of suffering from a depressive disorder has increased, over each of the past several generations” (Hirschfield). The diagnosis of depression has escalated generationally and has become a norm for many physicians to jump to when symptoms fit in their molded idea of depression. 

The medical community is always doing research trying to find cures for illnesses and attempting to better their current treatments. Society is viewing mental disorders in an incorrect light, as if “the brain is a bag of chemical soup” and we are trying to, “treat complex psychiatric disorders just by changing the flavor of the soup” (Anderson). Simply treating patients with medication after medication until many won’t or stop taking them due to so many unwanted side effects is not productive in reducing the suffering. Doctor’s base treatment options off questionnaires and symptoms that are described to them. Anderson states that “…we have an oversimplified and increasingly outmoded view of the biological basis of psychiatric disorders.” This ties in with the ideas that we are simply trying to correct mental disorders by mixing new ‘seasoning’ in the pot to get a better overall taste. 

Gathering information from the research conducted at Johns Hopkins involving adults diagnosed with clinical depression and if they qualify as depressed under the 12-month criteria for depression demonstrates the clear overmedication of patients. They found that when the participants were assessed by the 12-month criteria for depression that only 34.8% of the adults diagnosed with clinical depression met it, despite the majority of participants being prescribed and using psychiatric medications (Johns). It is apparent that the system in which physicians are using to certify patients as clinically depressed is skewed and needs to be reevaluated in order to properly handle and treat patients. The experiment showed that 6 out of 7 participants did not in fact qualify for depression under the set criteria (Johns). Those that did not have a lifetime history of major depression or family history were fund to still be diagnosed and medicated by their physicians. This study shows how many are being given chemicals to alter their brains when in fact they do not even present the symptoms to ensure that they require these alterations.

There have been studies conducted representing depression as an underdiagnosed and underrecognized disorder. Davidson reports that roughly one third of patients suffering from a major depressive episode did not seek treatment. Overall, it was recorded that only ten percent of patients diagnosed by a physician to have major depression then in turn received adequate doses of antidepressant for a sufficient period of time (Davidson). This only proves that physicians are not properly medicating and the world in which patients are being treated haphazardly is diversifying. Having those who are suffering avoid going to a doctor in order to seek help or receive medication due to the lack of consistency and certainty is absurd. The world at present is a heavily medicated one and with the number of people receiving treatment increasing rapidly who will not be considered depressed when the time comes to step back and survey. Over diagnosing depression in all age ranges has become a very prevalent issue in today’s society that needs to be addressed before things become explosive.

The purpose of medicating has changed in many people’s minds to become something of convenience instead of need. Reviewing the research and analyzing data throughout the works I have presented simply embellished the notion of the over medicated world. As a species medication has become a quick fix to those pesky things that keep us from fulfilling our duties and continuing on with our days. Relying so heavily on medication will be a downfall of mass amounts of people suffering not only from depression but other mental and physical illnesses. Studies presenting meditation as a form of relief from mental struggle and other therapeutic activities must be presented to those who think there is no other option. The world must slow down and reevaluate how illnesses are taking control of the brains of future generations by introducing chemical alteration as a viable solution. 

The excessive amount of medication that we see fit to distribute and prescribe to adolescents as well as elders begin to form our future. In adhering to the physicians that sign off on the quick fix chemical alterations there is a sense of mindless obedience. There are no questions asked once a patient is diagnosed with a disorder of some kind. That becomes what is inherently wrong with your brain or body, no hesitation. With the world population spending close to sixteen billion, yearly, on prescription psychotics alone, who is not affected by this. At a global level the diagnosis of depression and other mental disorders has become an extremely lucrative business for pharmaceutical companies and others who stand to turn a profit. The general population is simply those who are being spoon fed a diagnosis, accurate or not, that will lead them undoubtedly towards overmedicating.

Depression has become a type of normalcy for many seeing as such a large amount of the population is either diagnosed with or introduced to it at a very young age, through family or friends. Depression truly is right around every corner. The over diagnosing of this disorder has led to medicating being brought out in such vast quantities, there will never be a time in which depression will be eradicated but continuing on the current path looks as though there will only be more soup to be chemically seasoned.
