Critical Approach
Biomedicine or “Western Medicine” claims to be objective, stating the universal truth regardless of cultural influence, and while this may seem like the case, certain cultural events led to the development of biomedicine making it what it is today. This topic gives you a taste of the critical approach taken by anthropologist. Culture played a part in three main studies of biomedicine, the history and development, the social language or in other words how “normal” is perceived, and the rituals performed on an everyday basis between clinicians and patients. Depression is no exception to this ideology as you can expect to find throughout the rest of this page.
Depression has a long and vast history which contains many different view points and at many times people were forced to take one side or the other. For example for the longest time, a divide between doctors occurred because of their answer to “is depression a mental or physical illness”. As more knowledge was being discovered about the brain, clinicians decided on a combination of both and thus coming up with two types of depression, “endogenous” and “neurotic” which are still some what accepted today. Endogenous depression was thought to come from within the body and was all caused by the individual, which was the case for some patients. Neurotic depression, on the other hand, developed from an outside source or event that may have led to the onset illness. No matter where the depression developed clinicians still had to treat their patients (Dombeck). In 1952 the game changed extremely as doctors found that a pharmaceutical used to treat tuberculosis was also effective in treating depression, known as Isoniazid (Dombeck). A new world of drug intervention and research had opened up due to the discovery and had many professionals intrigued. Many drugs used today are a product of this increasing research including, Prozac and Zoloft being some of the most common names. Before this discovery, majority of treatments included psychotherapy, which was more or less talking to someone trying to help guide them throughout their “funk”. Psychotherapy was effective during those times and is still accepted and used today in combination with the newer drug developments.
Treatment of depression has absolutely been subjected to biomedicalization at this day and age. Biomedicalization focuses on the enhancement of one’s body opposed to medicalization which dealt more directly with control of one’s body. The development of new drugs made it easier for someone to enhance their social life by just popping a pill, Americans were very fond of this idea. In fact, “from 1988 through 2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%” (Brody). This dramatic increase can be associated with the use of mass media advertising to the common person, getting the word out there about antidepressants. Many advertisements made the drugs seem like a miracle worker, for example, the picture associated with this page is an ad for Prozac calling it a “Mood Brightener” and will “Wash your blues away!” comparing it to laundry detergent.
The American culture has become more acceptant over time with increasing knowledge of depression. Although this is the case, many people are still reluctant to tell others about their problems as they might not understand or accept what they’re going through. This topic is made apparent by the underground rapper and hip-hop producer, Oddisee, in the video interview conducted about depression and how people may see it as a “weakness”. The video was made as part of the youtube series “#OkNotToBeOk”, documenting a few famous artists in the music industry giving their side of the story with depression while advocating that it’s alright to be different instead keeping quite about your problems.
Depression has a long and vast history which contains many different view points and at many times people were forced to take one side or the other. For example for the longest time, a divide between doctors occurred because of their answer to “is depression a mental or physical illness”. As more knowledge was being discovered about the brain, clinicians decided on a combination of both and thus coming up with two types of depression, “endogenous” and “neurotic” which are still some what accepted today. Endogenous depression was thought to come from within the body and was all caused by the individual, which was the case for some patients. Neurotic depression, on the other hand, developed from an outside source or event that may have led to the onset illness. No matter where the depression developed clinicians still had to treat their patients (Dombeck). In 1952 the game changed extremely as doctors found that a pharmaceutical used to treat tuberculosis was also effective in treating depression, known as Isoniazid (Dombeck). A new world of drug intervention and research had opened up due to the discovery and had many professionals intrigued. Many drugs used today are a product of this increasing research including, Prozac and Zoloft being some of the most common names. Before this discovery, majority of treatments included psychotherapy, which was more or less talking to someone trying to help guide them throughout their “funk”. Psychotherapy was effective during those times and is still accepted and used today in combination with the newer drug developments.
Treatment of depression has absolutely been subjected to biomedicalization at this day and age. Biomedicalization focuses on the enhancement of one’s body opposed to medicalization which dealt more directly with control of one’s body. The development of new drugs made it easier for someone to enhance their social life by just popping a pill, Americans were very fond of this idea. In fact, “from 1988 through 2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%” (Brody). This dramatic increase can be associated with the use of mass media advertising to the common person, getting the word out there about antidepressants. Many advertisements made the drugs seem like a miracle worker, for example, the picture associated with this page is an ad for Prozac calling it a “Mood Brightener” and will “Wash your blues away!” comparing it to laundry detergent.
The American culture has become more acceptant over time with increasing knowledge of depression. Although this is the case, many people are still reluctant to tell others about their problems as they might not understand or accept what they’re going through. This topic is made apparent by the underground rapper and hip-hop producer, Oddisee, in the video interview conducted about depression and how people may see it as a “weakness”. The video was made as part of the youtube series “#OkNotToBeOk”, documenting a few famous artists in the music industry giving their side of the story with depression while advocating that it’s alright to be different instead keeping quite about your problems.
Bibliography:
Brody, Gu, and Pratt. "Products - Data Briefs - Number 76 - October 2011." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.htm.
Dombeck, Nemade, and Staats Reiss. "Historical Understandings of Depression Continued - Depression Resources, Education About Depression and Unipolar Depression." Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety, Wellness, Family & Relationship Issues, Sexual Disorders & ADHD Medications. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?&id=12996&cn=5.
Oddisee. "Oddisee talks mental health at home and in creative industries #OKNotToBeOK." YouTube. n.d. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JFYlcaJwk0&list=PLH4mBaEe3SpPOx4Ho9dyCeWVc-As6jI5c&index=4.
Prozac. "Prozac Ad." Accessed August 14, 2013. http://s278.photobucket.com/user/Design_Savage/media/ProzacAd.jpg.html.
Brody, Gu, and Pratt. "Products - Data Briefs - Number 76 - October 2011." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.htm.
Dombeck, Nemade, and Staats Reiss. "Historical Understandings of Depression Continued - Depression Resources, Education About Depression and Unipolar Depression." Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety, Wellness, Family & Relationship Issues, Sexual Disorders & ADHD Medications. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?&id=12996&cn=5.
Oddisee. "Oddisee talks mental health at home and in creative industries #OKNotToBeOK." YouTube. n.d. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JFYlcaJwk0&list=PLH4mBaEe3SpPOx4Ho9dyCeWVc-As6jI5c&index=4.
Prozac. "Prozac Ad." Accessed August 14, 2013. http://s278.photobucket.com/user/Design_Savage/media/ProzacAd.jpg.html.