Prescription Drugs: Overmedicating America - Essay Example

n the context of special sciences, in particular biology and psychology; an answer to the second inquiry must necessarily come from the region of philosophy—a discipline that investigates the nature of those phenomena beyond the purview of scientific enquiry. Nevertheless, our third question—a question of what party is granted the intellectual authority over dictating the limits of normality—remains an enigma. Who is it who defines this category of being in the context of the other two questions that revolve around issues of science and philosophy together?

In our modern society, it seems that the intellectual authority on the third question is anyone—whether that anyone consists of a pharmaceutical corporation, a primary care physician, or a concerned parent. The apparent lack of authorities on this matter, as well as the evident deficiency in standards for deciding, has led to a situation wherein abnormality with respect to mental illnesses and social deviation is a matter decided either by uninformed consensus or by the person who can either shout the loudest or can pay the most for advertising.

In the following examination, I shall uncover a few essential truths relating to the current crisis: popularly called an “epidemic” of overmedication in many areas of our modern society. These truths deal primarily with the sociopsychological and economic origins of the emergency—and consequently, the solutions that shall be offered will be grounded primarily in said regions of particular interest. Such problems and solutions are by no means exhaustive and by no means never before recognized by those seeking truth in the matter.

However, the approach of this essay is one of hierarchical causal recognition; or, in other words, an identification of how certain events have brought about other causal factors—ultimately compounding the problem to create such a widespread epidemic. The most elemental causal factors under consideration in the following is