KPLC 7 News Lake Charles, Louisiana
Psychiatrist: Over diagnosis leads to strain on resources
By Michael Cooper
Nov 26, 2014
Excerpts:
Dr. Dale Archer has been in practice for close to 30 years and he doesn’t mind stepping on some toes.
His theory may be controversial but it well worth consideration.
“The biggest problem we face in mental health today is the over-diagnosis, over-medication, and over-treatment of psychiatric conditions,” Archer said.
Psychiatrist Dale Archer
It’s what Dr. Archer calls the over-medication culture. Dr. Archer questions the statistics that claim 44 million Americans have some form of mental illness.
He believes the system is flawed and is lumping too many people into that category…
The theory is that with so many dollars being spent on people, who are wrongly diagnosed, it drains the coffers for those who really need it. But is that an overly simplistic view of the problem?
…But Dr. Archer maintains that we need to re-evaluate our definition of normal.
“We need to say ‘look, it’s okay to feel sad after the loss of a loved one. It’s okay to get anxious before a big performance, that’s normal,'” he said. “You don’t need a pill for all of these things.”
But how did we get there as a society where a pill is the answer for everything? Maybe it started in the classrooms, where the doctors got their training.
“When I trained back in the 80s, we got 50 percent psychotherapy training and 50 percent biologic medication training,” he said. “Today, the average psychiatric resident gets zero psychotherapy training. So all they have to offer is a pill.”