Article Version of Record

The meteoric rise of mental illness in America and implications for other countries

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Stolzer, Jeanne M.

Abstract / Description

Over the last 20-30 years, proponents of the medical model have hypothesized that mental illness is the result of a “chemical imbalance” in the brain (i.e., neurological atrophy, Breggin, 2011). In spite of the fact that no scientific evidence exists to support this hypothesis, the medical model’s claim that mental illness is the result of neurological malfunctioning has been widely disseminated by the pharmaceutical industry and by the medical community, in general, across the western world (Breggin, 2006; Healy, 2015). As a direct result of the widespread acceptance of the chemical imbalance hypothesis, millions of men, women, and children are prescribed daily doses of dangerous and addictive psychiatric drugs for a plethora of mental illnesses that, just a generation ago, were unheard of (Baughman & Hovey, 2006). This paper will challenge the current medical model’s definition of mental illness, will offer a theoretically sound alternative to psychiatric drug treatment, and will explore in depth the cultural, economic, historical, ideological, and social correlates that can be intrinsically linked to the meteoric rise in psychiatric illness across much of the western world.

Keyword(s)

mental illness psychiatric illness psychiatric diagnoses rise in psychiatric illness

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2016-08-18

Journal title

The European Journal of Counselling Psychology

Volume

4

Issue

2

Page numbers

228–246

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Stolzer, J. M. (2016). The meteoric rise of mental illness in America and implications for other countries. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 4(2), 228–246. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejcop.v4i2.77
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Stolzer, Jeanne M.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-29T07:49:04Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-29T07:49:04Z
  • Date of first publication
    2016-08-18
  • Abstract / Description
    Over the last 20-30 years, proponents of the medical model have hypothesized that mental illness is the result of a “chemical imbalance” in the brain (i.e., neurological atrophy, Breggin, 2011). In spite of the fact that no scientific evidence exists to support this hypothesis, the medical model’s claim that mental illness is the result of neurological malfunctioning has been widely disseminated by the pharmaceutical industry and by the medical community, in general, across the western world (Breggin, 2006; Healy, 2015). As a direct result of the widespread acceptance of the chemical imbalance hypothesis, millions of men, women, and children are prescribed daily doses of dangerous and addictive psychiatric drugs for a plethora of mental illnesses that, just a generation ago, were unheard of (Baughman & Hovey, 2006). This paper will challenge the current medical model’s definition of mental illness, will offer a theoretically sound alternative to psychiatric drug treatment, and will explore in depth the cultural, economic, historical, ideological, and social correlates that can be intrinsically linked to the meteoric rise in psychiatric illness across much of the western world.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Stolzer, J. M. (2016). The meteoric rise of mental illness in America and implications for other countries. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 4(2), 228–246. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejcop.v4i2.77
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2195-7614
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1664
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2030
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/ejcop.v4i2.77
  • Keyword(s)
    mental illness
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    psychiatric illness
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    psychiatric diagnoses
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    rise in psychiatric illness
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    The meteoric rise of mental illness in America and implications for other countries
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    2
  • Journal title
    The European Journal of Counselling Psychology
  • Page numbers
    228–246
  • Volume
    4
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record