Last Ronson Blog

The creation of the DSM III and the many mental disorders that are laid out in it started an epidemic in America, with many people being misdiagnosed with mental disorders and put on drugs they didn't need. It all started with the DSM III. A man named Robert Spitzer had a mom who was a very unhappy lady. The doctors could never figure out what was wrong with her. This upset him in a way that when he was chosen to help write the DSM III, he made many things a mental disorder, so doctors could easily label people in a more scientific way. After the DSM III came out, people started to self-diagnose themselves with mental disorders, and doctors would wrongly diagnose and over medicate their patients. This was good for the pharmaceutical companies, because they could make so many new drugs for their patients, but it really was a bad thing. There was less of a tolerance for people being different. They would automatically be labeled with a mental disorder. People would take pills for disorders they didn't have, sometimes turning them into slow, drooling fools. And that was considered a good thing. In an extreme case, a misdiagnosis of a child as bipolar and an overprescription on her medication led to her death. Her mother later admitted she was probably just a hyper child.

I'm confused as to what Petter meant by "good luck" to Ronson. Was this letter written to Ronson before he started doing all of his psychopath research or after? Also, why was it necessary for Petter to cut off all email contact? For the book itself, I am actually kind of sad it is over. I really liked it a lot; it was never boring, probably because there were so many different stories within the story, so it kept things changing and interesting. I am not surprised that the pharmaceutical companies were so excited about the DSM III and being able to make new drugs for people. The United States health care system is all about making a profit. In other countries, the health care system has a set amount of money, and each type of medical care can only charge a set amount. In the United States, they can charge what they want for health care, and try to make profits on it. So, with the DSM III coming out, it allowed a lot of money to be brought into the pharmaceutical companies.