Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/more-...ter-health

INTRO: This chart from Our World in Data shows that the U.S. (orange dot far right) spends far more than any other country on health care and yet is far from number one in life expectancy.

Two statistics capture the ills of American medicine: The U.S. ranks #1, by a long shot, in per-capita spending on health care. And yet the U.S. ranks #55 in life expectancy, just below Albania and Panama.

Clearly, more medicine does not result in better health. Far from it. Most treatments don’t work very well, and many do more harm than good. So philosopher of science Jacob Stegenga argues in Medical Nihilism, a dry, data-dense, devastating critique of medicine and medical research.

We should “have little confidence in medical interventions,” Stegenga writes, and resort to them much more sparingly. This is the perspective that Stegenga calls medical nihilism. What follows is an updated version of my 2019 review of Stegenga’s book... (MORE - details)

Quote:Stegenga faults physicians and drug companies for expanding their markets by inventing disorders and pathologizing common conditions. He calls this practice “disease-mongering.” Dubious disorders include restless leg syndrome, erectile dysfunction, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, halitosis, male balding, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, osteoporosis and social anxiety disorder.

When I first started seeing TV commercials about drugs that can treat Restless Leg Syndrome, I thought that might be something made up to sell drugs. But I asked my nurse practitioner about it and she said it's real. Having suffered akathesia many times as a side effect of antidepressants, I could certainly identify with the torment of being so restless you can't even stay seated and have to walk around till it wears off. But was RLS also a side of effect of drugs? Maybe so. I have been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, so I know the nervousness of being out in public. I don't know if its a real brain-based mental disease or not. But my Effexor treats it as well as depression, so whatever the cause of it I am relieved of it.