New disease: motivational deficiency disorder: Study ignores economic benefits

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7546.916-c

BMJ 2006;332:916 (15 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7546.916-c

Letter

New disease: motivational deficiency disorder

Study ignores economic benefits

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—As a sufferer of motivational deficiency disorder(MoDeD) I felt compelled to respond to the news item by Moynihan.¹Then I decided, why bother? But I finally roused myself to takeissue with the estimates of the economic costs of the disorder.This ignores the fact that MoDeD sufferers are responsible foran estimated 35% of consumption of snack foods, 40% of viewingof all reality TV shows, and 45% of all purchases of popularmusic. In addition, MoDeD sufferers produce 35% fewer greenhousegases because of their tendencies to stay at home. A more comprehensiveanalysis of the full economic impact of MoDeD should be done,preferably by someone other than me.