The Undereducation and Overmedication of America
How America learned to treat mental illness with prescriptions instead of understanding
Editor’s Note: This is another preview of the upcoming print issue of The Davidson Lux which will be officially released and distributed on campus early next week. As the great 14th century writer of The Canterbury Tales once said, “Better late than never.”
February 7th, 2025. A green gown, a hospital bed, a teddy bear. I sit in a hospital bed, waiting to be seen by a doctor. Fear in my parents’ eyes. A nurse tells me if I’m not careful, doctors will keep me here with no contact with the outside world. For over twenty hours, I sit with my thoughts. What do my parents think of me? My teachers? What does this mean for my future? I was told to stop “faking it for attention.” As a young adult, I was sent home with less than a kid’s dose of antidepressants. My second stay would come three months later, and my next hospitalization seven months after. In both cases, no doctor was ever assigned to my care. All this is to say that my experience with the psychiatric system has been more than unsatisfactory.
In recent years, commercialized drugs have been ubiquitous in American media. No matter where you look – television commercials, billboards, pop-up ads – pharmaceuticals are being displayed constantly. But these are not ordinary consumer products you just buy off the shelf. Psychiatric medication can be life-altering, both positively and negatively. While medications have saved many lives, American society has developed a culture of pharmaceutical quick fixes that prioritizes suppression of symptoms rather than encouraging scientific literacy. The crisis is not medication itself – it is that we are rarely taught what we are taking, why we are taking it, and what alternatives exist. People with disorders like me are not puzzles to be solved or problems to fix; we are people who deserve the same right to choose as anyone else.
Psychiatrists and Pharmaceutical Companies
According to the CDC, one in six American adults were on antidepressants in early 2025. That is somewhere in the 15-17% range, up from 11.3% in 2023. It is not just antidepressants, either; the CDC also reports that 43% of Americans are on some type of mental health medication. As a nation, mental health outcomes stay deeply troubling despite the rising prescription rates. There were drastic increases in suicides in a 15-year period. Back then, 14.1 million Americans were on antidepressants with 20.1% of the US population being treated for mental health. Provisional data shows U.S. suicide deaths fell less than 1% in 2024, showing that although there is some progress, mental health is still a major issue.
To get a drug to the market, it has to go through rigorous testing phases. Lots of time, money, and effort go into clearing for the public. The specifics of any pharmaceutical is there, locked behind a wall of “Here, take this and don’t ask questions.” We must choose to educate ourselves about what we agree to take, and while medication is thought of as the only answer, the underlying mental health issue remains at fault.
The Stigma Around Mental Illness and “Quick-Fix” Culture
A study done by Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in 2022 shows that 23% of adults seek mental health care, with women more likely to do so than men. But accessing that treatment often comes with steep financial barriers. One in five Americans do not fill a prescription because of the cost, and one in seven risks taking a lower dose or skipping doses for the same reason. Consider what this says about our society and the economy. There is the philosophy that nothing in this world is free, but insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies do not need to charge as much for potentially life-saving medication. Nor should they be prescribing medication solely for their profit.
The trend seen with excessive prescriptions is also seen with excessive hospitalizations. A study by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that 27% of men and 73% of women hospitalized for mental illness had substantially higher risk of suicide in the first 90 days after discharge. Those hospitalized for depression were 16 times more likely to commit suicide after hospitalization. Those who were not seen by outpatient care in the six months leading up to hospitalization were at even higher risk. Thus, hospitalization alone is not adequate care and often leaves patients even more vulnerable. Care does not stop at the hospital; it should continue at home. A hospital stay in any case can be life-changing and often traumatic, making individuals feel more alone, more helpless, more antagonized. Hospitalizations and medication are not the “quick fix” that society has been conditioned to so desperately want. The stigma that “all people with disorders are broken” is what causes doctors to try and “fix” something that is extremely difficult to understand. This misunderstanding caused the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to launch StigmaFree, a campaign suggesting educational, conscious language regarding mental health that encourages equality and shows compassion. (The key point here is that compassion does not mean complete understanding – just empathy.) Although I believe this is a great start, it is not nearly enough for systemic change. When I was diagnosed with a mix of mental disorders, I was told that I was an overthinker who became sad, but the extent of what I experienced was much greater than the labels ascribed by doctors who treated me. Experiences like this are why patients should be encouraged and given the tools of educating themselves; not only on pharmaceuticals, but on mental illness as well. Access to medication is important, but it should not replace understanding.
The Current Field of Psychiatry
These mistakes, along with the paper-ceiling hierarchy between psychiatrists and counselors, hurt patients. Researchers from John Hopkins University conducted a study that shows under-diagnosis and over-diagnosis go hand-in-hand. In fact, six out of seven participants did not meet the 12-month criteria to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Part of this overdiagnosis epidemic is the expansion of the DSM-V, the primary source of diagnostic criteria for mental disorders and illnesses. This expansion, although minorly contributed by the everchanging conceptions of mental illness within neuroscience and clinical psychology (which I completely understand and am studying to understand the human mind myself), is arguably due to the development of pharmaceutical drugs. These ever-changing conceptions do not, however, excuse ignorance on the part of patients nor professionals. If more people are diagnosed with mental disorders, more people buy the “necessary” drugs that are promoted by these large corporations. As more patients are diagnosed and prescribed medication, pharmaceutical companies profit more – even when those patients continue to suffer. Not only does medication generate profits for pharmaceutical companies, but it can also function as a form of social control. If someone is seen as acting out of what is seen as the “norm,” they are put on medicine to be stabilized. Yet the idea of being “stable” is subjective and depends heavily on individual and experience circumstances. Think of the extreme in the not so far in the future: if everyone is medicated to be normal in accordance with society, there is an erasure of individuality and culture as we know it – something straight out of a dystopian novel. Medication as the first prescribed solution is an attack on those who are deemed “irregular.”
Know What You Are Taking!
Medication can be necessary. If an individual is truly ill and a danger to themselves or others, intervention such as hospitalization or medicine is crucial. This is not a call to stop taking prescribed meds; I am simply saying that there is a lack of neuroscience comprehension within our society. When we are told how our mental illness is caused, we often get the “dumbed-down” version that is easier to digest and understand, usually meaning oversimplifying processes such as chemical imbalance. This is not mandating all of us to be neuroscientists – it is a call to educate yourself.
There is a systematic and cultural preference of speed rather than efficacy, putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. Doctors prioritize informed consent over helping patients understand what is happening in their own minds. In other words, many professionals think of mental patients as lab rats rather than humans who want to know why they cannot function like everyone else. Medication can save lives, but it can easily also cause harm. Those on medication should be able to make informed decisions on what we put in our system and how we choose to heal, rather than immediately spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year on “happy pills.” I am calling for transparency within clinical psychological, neuroscientific, and psychiatric fields. I implore – no, I beg you – educate yourself when your doctors will not. For people like me, do your research. Do what you feel is right for your body, for your mind. Do not let a broken, inefficient system push you towards a pill.
Works Cited:
“9 Ways to Fight Mental Health Stigma.” National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/blog/9-ways-to-fight-mental-health-stigma.
Hedegaard, Holly, et al. “Antidepressant Use Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018.” National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief, no. 419, 2021, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db419.htm.
Hedegaard, Holly, et al. “Use of Prescription Medication Among Adults Aged 18 and Over: United States.” National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief, no. 528, 2024, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db528.htm.
Mojtabai, Ramin. “Depression: Over-Diagnosis and Over-Treatment.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2013, publichealth.jhu.edu/2013/mojtabai-depression-over-diagnosis-and-over-treatment.
Mojtabai, Ramin, et al. “National Trends in the Prevalence and Treatment of Depression in Adolescents and Young Adults.” Pediatrics, vol. 138, no. 6, 2016, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles.
Olfson, Mark, et al. “Continuity of Care and Suicide Risk After Psychiatric Hospital Discharge.” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 168, no. 3, 2011, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles.
Olfson, Mark, et al. “Short-Term Suicide Risk After Psychiatric Hospital Discharge.” JAMA Psychiatry, vol. 74, no. 7, 2017, pp. 694–702.
“Public Opinion on Prescription Drugs and Their Prices.” KFF, www.kff.org/health-costs/public-opinion-on-prescription-drugs-and-their-prices.
“Suicide Statistics.” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, afsp.org/suicide-statistics/.
“The Behavioral Health Care Affordability Problem.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/article/the-behavioral-health-care-affordability-problem.
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