Journal of General Practice

The Management of Madness

Abstract

Wylie Jones Jordan

Symptom relief is a commendable goal but no proof that a drug corrects anything. Aspirin can often relieve fever and pain, but it does not treat the causes. Medicines prescribed to treat organic diseases — such insulin for diabetes and digitalis for heart failure — have measurable effects that can and must be monitored.

Hundreds of syndromes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual only confuse any search for cure, but they give symptoms the appearance of ‘recognized medical disorders’. That allows the pharmaceutical industry to advertise psychoactive drugs — analgesics, stimulants, and sedatives — as if they were medicine. Psychoactive drugs are notoriously addictive, which tends to build life-time customers. That is unfortunate for the wide use of drugs, especially stimulants, may contribute to violence.