Gratitude Deficit Disorder (GDD)
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
I love all these new diseases, syndromes, and disorders they've come up with in the last ten years.
I also find it curious that we usually find out about these new disorders about the same time the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) certifies a new drug for production and sale.
Take the disease known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a condition that leaves sufferers paralyzed by irrational fears. For these people, worry is a full-time job. It takes an extraordinary effort to get things done. It leaves people feeling utterly exhausted at the end of the day what with doing their normal work-related tasks and coping with the fears and worries on top of everything else.
No one heard about GAD until the spring of 2001, shortly after the antidepressant drug Paxil was approved by the FDA. Indeed, according to one study, only 1.2 percent of the population comes close to having the symptoms of GAD. If Paxil was to succeed, the public relations department of the pharmaceutical firms would have to step up to the plate.
And that's exactly what they did. People with academic credentials went on the morning television shows, television ads attempted to put a human face on the disorder, and so on. One ad for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) ran print ads that said, "Imagine being allergic to people." It featured a man with his head in his hands, fingering the handle of a coffee cup. The text below the picture discusses SAD, but the ad nowhere identifies the drug company that paid for the ad or the drug Paxil that will be prescribed to treat SAD. You can't sell drugs for a disorder that no one knows about.
This is how the pharmaceutical industry has squeezed millions of additional dollars out of the public for their antidepressant drugs. Now these drugs might be used for GAD, or SAD, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, and others. No surprise that the sale of antidepressants increased 800 percent between 1990 and 2000. And, of course, there are a host of other disorders, like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder, for example, that are out there, and more are on the way!
Expect this trend to continue. Expect to hear of new disorders. Expect to hear of new drugs. The anxiety market is expected to expand to $3 billion by 2009.
But in my research for this story (and most of this information comes from a fascinating study in Mother Jones by Brendan Koerner, July/August 2002), I never ran across the disorder that Jesus discovered on the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Ten men have leprosy. No question about the diagnosis there. But all except one have Gratitude Deficit Disorder. It's a disorder for which no drug therapy seems to work.
I also find it curious that we usually find out about these new disorders about the same time the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) certifies a new drug for production and sale.
Take the disease known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a condition that leaves sufferers paralyzed by irrational fears. For these people, worry is a full-time job. It takes an extraordinary effort to get things done. It leaves people feeling utterly exhausted at the end of the day what with doing their normal work-related tasks and coping with the fears and worries on top of everything else.
No one heard about GAD until the spring of 2001, shortly after the antidepressant drug Paxil was approved by the FDA. Indeed, according to one study, only 1.2 percent of the population comes close to having the symptoms of GAD. If Paxil was to succeed, the public relations department of the pharmaceutical firms would have to step up to the plate.
And that's exactly what they did. People with academic credentials went on the morning television shows, television ads attempted to put a human face on the disorder, and so on. One ad for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) ran print ads that said, "Imagine being allergic to people." It featured a man with his head in his hands, fingering the handle of a coffee cup. The text below the picture discusses SAD, but the ad nowhere identifies the drug company that paid for the ad or the drug Paxil that will be prescribed to treat SAD. You can't sell drugs for a disorder that no one knows about.
This is how the pharmaceutical industry has squeezed millions of additional dollars out of the public for their antidepressant drugs. Now these drugs might be used for GAD, or SAD, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, and others. No surprise that the sale of antidepressants increased 800 percent between 1990 and 2000. And, of course, there are a host of other disorders, like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder, for example, that are out there, and more are on the way!
Expect this trend to continue. Expect to hear of new disorders. Expect to hear of new drugs. The anxiety market is expected to expand to $3 billion by 2009.
But in my research for this story (and most of this information comes from a fascinating study in Mother Jones by Brendan Koerner, July/August 2002), I never ran across the disorder that Jesus discovered on the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Ten men have leprosy. No question about the diagnosis there. But all except one have Gratitude Deficit Disorder. It's a disorder for which no drug therapy seems to work.
