Tracking the American Epidemic of Mental Illness

The PPIC and “its adherence to the disease model pervades mainstream culture and greatly impacts psychotherapy,” he says. “Consequently, the effects of the PPIC may have resulted in some psychiatric consumers adopting disease-model messages in ways similar to cult indoctrination.”

“Consumer adoption of the disease model can create obstacles to treatment when hope is fundamental,” he advises.

Murray says his most difficult cases “involve clients who have in essence been drawn into the PPIC and have become resigned to the disease model with little sense of empowerment to overcome their emotional problems.”

“These are the consumers who have little self-efficacy and little hope that they have options other than to suffer,” he reports.

“Insurance companies rely on pharmaceuticals to contain costs (and limit psychotherapy sessions), and reimbursement depends on a diagnosis of a diseased brain,” Murray notes.

Part I (soon)

Part II