by Rurouni J.T.

Created on: April 04, 2007   Last Updated: April 22, 2007

"Generation Med" is a pretty harsh title to own up to. Is it really all that fair? Maybe society is being a little harsh. Besides, "Generation Med" is pretty general. Maybe "Generation Prozac" or "Generation Ritalin" or maybe even "Generation Viagra." Honestly, are we such a nation of hypochondriacs? Well, we certainly do seem to have a prescription drug for every inconvenience in life. From sleeplessness to erectile dysfunction to just not being happy with life.

Honestly, the main "symptom" of depression, according to Prozac is "feeling downhearted, blue, and sad." Even if it's every once in a while. How general can it get? Main "symptoms" of ADD: impulsiveness, inattention and hyperactivity. If your child EVER suffer from any of these "symptoms" he or she may have ADD. Doesn't that sound like every kid ever? I'd honestly be worried if my five year old paid attention to everything I said and was complacent all the way through dinner.

It seems to me that the country as a whole, wants to find some way to blame something other than themselves for their lot in life. "I hate my job" has turned into "I'm depressed and need to be medicated." "My kid is bouncing off the walls" has turned into "He has ADD and needs to be sedated." People will hate their jobs and kids will be rowdy. It's not a symptom of a disease.

I'm not saying that there are people with genuine problems that might benefit from these medications. We do have sick people. We have people that need help in life. There is the guy that hates his job and his boss so much that after twenty years he comes in and cries himself to sleep every night and thinks of killing himself because he thinks no one would care if he were gone. That man needs psychiatric help. Medication, maybe. But those situations are in the minority of people who take these medications.

We, as a people, should find a way to solve our own problems instead of accepting complacency and being medicated. They medicate prisoners and psychiatric patients to keep them docile. Now we are doing that to our country. And we wonder why the voter turn out has gone down. No one cares. Our nation is medicated apathetic.

How did that happen? How about the pharmaceutical industry shoving their products in our face in a surge for the past few years. Is no one else suspicious of commercials for prescription medication? "Ask your doctor about lunesta/zoloft/cialis/xanax/lipitor and see if it may be right for you" with all the vague symptoms, odds are it probably is "right for you." Especially as seeing how doctors get a commission for all the prescriptions they write. It just boggles my mind that we have to have commercials to tell us we have something wrong with us. Shouldn't we know? Shouldn't we be the ones deciding if we should be asking our doctor's if we need help with a problem? Not a pharmaceutical company? Not like our problem is going to get any better. The whole thing gives me a headache, got anything for that?

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