Facing post-9-11 anxiety and depression, some Americans experiencing increased anxiety and depression have turned to their television -- and ads from pharmaceutical companies -- rather than a doctor for treatment.
"With increased marketing by pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs like antidepressants are presented directly to the consumer, taking the doctor and diagnosis out of the equation," said Gettysburg College philosophy professor Jen Hansen. "Massive mainstream advertising by these companies creates consumers for drugs by saying, 'ask your doctor for this.'"
The strategy dovetails perfectly with Americans' perennial love of quick fixes, Hansen said. "We like to find the problem and then solve it with a 'magic bullet.' There's almost a magical aura to drugs, particularly in this era of Harry Potter and 'Lord of the Rings.' People look to them as magic potion to cure all their ills and misery."
Women -- faced with changing and conflicting social roles -- are susceptible to the promise of a pill that will make them "better than well," according to Hansen, noting that more than two-thirds of all prescriptions are written for women. "As a society, we have little patience for the emotionality or melancholy often attributed to women," she said. "A very complex interrelation of gender expectations and American conceptions of happiness and normalcy all feed the preoccupation with simple, pharmaceutical answers."
Antidepressants, then, are the utilitarian solution to the mental illness crisis, according to Hansen. They maximize social happiness, make pharmaceutical companies profitable, maximize worker productivity, and don't challenge the American lifestyle. "Drug companies, through their ads for antidepressants, are selling a lifestyle," she said. "You can eat and drink heartily, because there's a pill to take care of you."
Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences. With nearly 2,400 students, it is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park. The college was founded in 1832.
RSS