A wrinkle in the “disorder” game
Substance Abuse Disorder
∙ PAID
The “experts” call it a mental health condition.
Why?
The science is very simple. “We get lots of new patients and make more money if we label it a condition.”
They’re right.
Suppose every driver who has more than one accident in his life is diagnosed with Automotive Disorder? Thus opening the door to psychiatric treatment.
The driver didn’t just have accidents. He has a CONDITION.
Joe Smith didn’t just take too many drugs. He has a DISORDER.
Dr. Shrink Phony: “Substance Abuse Disorder is a brain disease with underlying genetic factors…”
Uh-huh. Sure it is.
If anybody has a condition, it’s the whole community of psychiatrists. They’re suffering from Obsessive and Profit-Making Labeling of Human Behavior As Disorders.
And drug-taking Joe Smith now has an out. “I’m not just destroying myself with drugs. I have a condition that’s beyond my control. I’m suffering from a disease. That’s why I had to rob eight stores. My condition compels me to get money to buy heroin. I didn’t commit crimes. I need treatment. Free treatment.”
American Addiction Centers estimates that 46 million Americans have a Substance Abuse Disorder.
That’s quite a potential base of customers.
If you were an entrepreneur, wouldn’t you like to be able to wave a wand and suddenly create a market like that for the product you’re selling?
When a new disorder is “discovered,” the word goes out. Journals are ready to publish papers. Everybody and his brother cooks up reviews, articles, and studies, and submits them, in order to gain status, recognition, job advancement.
It’s a flood. Which cements absurdity as science, as something real and important.
News media fall in line. Reporters turn out stories and obtain quotes from “the right people.”
Drug companies come up with medicines to treat the new “disorder.” Money rolls in.
Some historian from Harvard will pen a piece for the New York Times: “It’s quite possible the Vikings were one of the first groups to suffer from Substance Abuse Disorder. They chewed the wood on their ships, which contained an oil that altered brain function…”
The Discovery Channel might weigh in: “This week—South American squirrels that ate coca leaf and developed the classic symptoms of Substance Disorder…”
A state that’s legalized marijuana will set aside $100 million for Substance Disorder treatment centers. The no-bid contract goes to the Governor’s brother.
The invention of a non-existent condition, plus parasitic business = an upturn in the economy.
How is this “Disorder” treated?
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