Thank you for publishing Dr Wallers' article, it does reveal an
aspect of media reporting that we all know but rarely hear about.
I am sorry to hear those harrowing accounts that a program like this will
collect and pass on, where the attribution of the problem is to the
putative drug.What we never hear is the full background history that was
taken before the drug was supplied or what consideration went in to the
decision to take the drug by either the patient or the prescriber.And we
don't hear these things because they simply are not that interesting.
What we have is a new Modern Hystory.Modern Hystories were described by
Elaine Showalter(1).The essence of a Hystory is that the dialogue about
the condition is more influencial than the facts.It builds on the simple
but really not that suprising fundemental that there are simply things in
the world that that remain unknown.
Showalter states that the essential ingredients of the condition are
1)A group of physician/enthusiasts (Dr Healy's name comes to mind) 2)
Unhappy vulnerable patients and 3) A supportive cultural environment -
Something Panorama is doing to its best to generate.
The real tragedy of the condition is that those engaged in it have a
compelling belief in the rightness of their own position and the more that
an attempt is made to argue to the contrary the more convinced indivuals
become of the truth of their view.Similar conditions include Chronic
fatigue,recovered memories and Alien Abduction.
The only truth that I can discern is that the Specific Serotonin
Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) story is set to run and run.
alan wear
1) Elaine Showalter.Hystories Hysterical epidemics and Modern
Culture.(Picador 1997)
Competing interests:
I do from time to time prescribe antidepressant drugs including SSRI's
Rapid Response:
Welcome to a modern 'Hystory'
Thank you for publishing Dr Wallers' article, it does reveal an
aspect of media reporting that we all know but rarely hear about.
I am sorry to hear those harrowing accounts that a program like this will
collect and pass on, where the attribution of the problem is to the
putative drug.What we never hear is the full background history that was
taken before the drug was supplied or what consideration went in to the
decision to take the drug by either the patient or the prescriber.And we
don't hear these things because they simply are not that interesting.
What we have is a new Modern Hystory.Modern Hystories were described by
Elaine Showalter(1).The essence of a Hystory is that the dialogue about
the condition is more influencial than the facts.It builds on the simple
but really not that suprising fundemental that there are simply things in
the world that that remain unknown.
Showalter states that the essential ingredients of the condition are
1)A group of physician/enthusiasts (Dr Healy's name comes to mind) 2)
Unhappy vulnerable patients and 3) A supportive cultural environment -
Something Panorama is doing to its best to generate.
The real tragedy of the condition is that those engaged in it have a
compelling belief in the rightness of their own position and the more that
an attempt is made to argue to the contrary the more convinced indivuals
become of the truth of their view.Similar conditions include Chronic
fatigue,recovered memories and Alien Abduction.
The only truth that I can discern is that the Specific Serotonin
Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) story is set to run and run.
alan wear
1) Elaine Showalter.Hystories Hysterical epidemics and Modern
Culture.(Picador 1997)
Competing interests:
I do from time to time prescribe antidepressant drugs including SSRI's
Competing interests: No competing interests