Thread by @JohnConstas

Psychiatric drugs are a huge money-maker

Last year, $27.4 Billion was spent on these medications worldwide

and that number only continues to grow

The question is: why?

Here's a little-known history of the industry that all of you should know about

THREAD

Mental Illness is not a new thing

Ancient Indian texts describe centers to take care of people with these disorders

In Greece and Rome, Mental health issues were connected to the paranormal

It wasn't until the 19th century where psychiatry became a recognized specialty

For over 150 years, the psychiatric field had no progress

The only solution to help these patients was to put them into wards and observe them

Often to be left there for the rest of their lives

Many unethical procedures were done to these people

Truly unacceptable

Psychiatry did evolve in the 20th century

Patients were able to meet their psychiatrists
sit on their infamous leather couch

and pour their hearts out

Some would feel better but not much good came out of it

The first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders was released in 1952

This tool was used by psychiatrists to classify all the mental disorders they were presented with

The number of diagnoses increased as the years passed

In the 1960s, Psychiatry as a profession was failing

The American Psychiatric Association was crumbling

Psychiatrists were going out of business

Alternative options to deal with mental health through the Anti-psychiatry movement challenged the status quo

But in the 1970s, a deal was struck to save the psychiatric profession

Big Ph@rma was now a flourishing industry with a ton of capital

but they wanted more...

So they decided it was time to monetize the field of psychiatry

and bankroll all the research in the field

They made the claim that all psychiatric disorders were the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain

And that correcting the imbalance would solve the problem

The truth of the matter is

No one knows exactly what the baseline of a chemically healthy brain looks like

There's NO diagnostic test that's ever been created to determine brain chemistry

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders is nothing more than an accumulation of subjective observations

Research paper after research paper created the narrative that psychiatric meds

were the ONLY solution to helping patients with their mental health

all of this without a single diagnostic test to prove any of it

This has gone for far too long

The reason I am bringing this historical fact to light is to spark some curiosity in all of you

We can change the way things are done

but only if we ask questions

We need to stop relying on a pill to solve our issues

and truly get the medical community to dig deeper into how to solve our mental health crisis

The more you ask questions

The faster we can get answers