Normal Behavior Pathologized—The High Cost of America's Mental Health "Epidemic"
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LOS ANGELES - Washingtoner -- The United States is spending more than ever on mental health—yet outcomes continue to worsen. Suicide rates are rising, psychiatric hospitalizations are increasing, and more Americans than ever are on psychiatric drugs. A growing number of experts and watchdog organizations argue that the root of the problem lies not in a lack of access or funding, but in the very foundation of modern psychiatry: an unscientific diagnostic system that pathologizes normal life. According to neurologist Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan, author of The Age of Diagnosis, "fad" diagnoses pathologize the human condition itself. "We are not getting sicker," she writes, "we are attributing more to sickness."[1] The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is sounding the alarm on the unchecked expansion of psychiatric diagnoses—most notably through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). What began in 1952 with just 106 diagnoses exploded to over 300 by 2013, despite a lack of objective biological testing to support these labels.

Despite massive investments in mental health care, U.S. outcomes are deteriorating:

• Mental health/behavioral spending reached $329 billion in 2022—a 94% increase since 2012 [2]—yet suicide rates have jumped 30% since 2000.[3]
• Time in a psychiatric hospital raises suicide likelihood by over 44 times; psychotropic drugs alone can raise it nearly six times.[4]
• One-third of admitted psychiatric patients are readmitted within a year, highlighting treatment failure.[5]
• Involuntary commitment accounts for over half of all psychiatric admissions.[6] Yet evidence shows that forced treatment is ineffective.[7]

The diagnostic system's credibility is undermined by deep financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. According to research: 69% of DSM-5 task force members had financial ties to drug companies.

Lisa Cosgrove, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts Boston, warns that the "disease model" of psychiatry secured legitimacy for the field but at the cost of objectivity. "It opened the door to an improper dependence on the pharmaceutical industry," she says.

DSM-driven diagnostic inflation has led to an explosion in labels that often medicalize experiences. Examples now classified as disorders include:

• Caffeine Use Disorder (8%)
• Restless Leg Syndrome (13%)
• Adjustment Disorder (15%)
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder in children (6%)

Some estimates suggest that, when added together, DSM-labeled "illnesses" outnumber the U.S. population.

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While the DSM gives the appearance of a clinical guidebook, it remains—by the admission of psychiatrists—scientifically unsound. Dr. Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, declared: "The weakness of DSM is its lack of validity…. DSM diagnoses are based on consensus about clusters of symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure."[8]

Psychiatrist Allen Frances, who led the DSM-IV task force, has since warned that DSM has led to the "medicalization of childhood" and a "massive, careless over-diagnosis" epidemic. He emphasized: "Mental illness is terribly misleading because the disorders we diagnose are merely descriptions of behaviors, not well-established diseases."

In other words, there is no verifiable biological test for depression, ADHD, bipolar or other mental disorder. Yet millions are labeled and treated as if they were suffering from chronic medical diseases.

Psychiatric diagnoses do not reveal chemical imbalances. In fact, psychiatrist Professor Joanna Moncrieff, of University College London, notes: "The theory that depression is caused by low serotonin is not supported by reliable evidence." Still, patients are routinely prescribed antidepressants under the presumption of such imbalances.

The consequences of psychiatric diagnosing are not just financial—they're deeply personal and often devastating. Women and children are disproportionately affected. Two-thirds of electroshock recipients are women. Children as young as five are prescribed psychiatric drugs. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported a 66% rise in antidepressant use in ages 12–25 between 2016 and 2022.[9]

TIME and Smithsonian have reported on the enduring trend of diagnosing women's physical and emotional struggles as mental illness, delaying real medical care and increasing vulnerability to psychiatric interventions.[10]

Even as access to treatment expands, mental health is declining across all major metrics. TIME summed it up: "Even as more people flock to therapy, U.S. mental health is getting worse."[11]

Experts and advocates are calling not for more funding, but for systemic change.
Dr. Frances advises: "Ignore DSM-5. Its suggestions are reckless, unsupported by science, and will result in unnecessary, harmful, costly treatment."[12]

"The DSM must be abolished," says psychiatrist Samuel Timimi.[13]

CCHR, established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry Thomas Szasz, urges lawmakers, healthcare leaders, and the public to reconsider the current trajectory of mental health policy. "Until psychiatry is held accountable for its unscientific diagnostic system and the harm it inflicts," says Jan Eastgate, President, CCHR International, "the crisis will only deepen."

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Sources:

[1] Hanna Barnes, "Our overdiagnosis epidemic: How a marked rise in the treatment of certain conditions – physical and mental – is harming, not protecting, public health," The New Statesman, 10 Mar. 2025, www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/book-of-the-day/2025/03/our-overdiagnosis-epidemic

[2] U.S Behavioral Health Spending: A 2023 OPEN MINDS Market Intelligence Report, May 2023, openminds.com/intelligence-report/u-s-behavioral-health-spending-a-2023-open-minds-market-intelligence-report/

[3] "America Has Reached Peak Therapy. Why Is Our Mental Health Getting Worse?" TIME, 28 Aug. 2024, time.com/6308096/therapy-mental-health-worse-us/

[4] "Disturbing findings about the risk of suicide and psychiatric hospitals," Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiology, (2014), link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-014-0912-2

[5] "Readmission of Patients to Acute Psychiatric Hospitals: Influential Factors and Interventions to Reduce Psychiatric Readmission Rates," Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Sep 19;10(9):1808, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9498532/

[6] "National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS): 2018 Data on Mental Health Treatment Facilities – Data on Mental Health Treatment Facilities," SAMSHA, 2019; Christopher Lane, Ph.D., "When Psychiatric Treatment Isn't Voluntary," Psychology Today, 31 Mar. 2023, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary

[7] "Forcing homeless people into mental health treatment isn't the way to solve homelessness," Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2020, www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-28/homeless-people-mental-health-treatment-homelessness

[8] Thomas Insel, "Transforming Diagnosis," NIMH Website, 20 Apr. 2013, psychrights.org/2013/130429NIMHTransformingDiagnosis.htm

[9] www.healthline.com/health-news/antidepressant-prescriptions-increasing-young-people#What-are-the-side-effects-of-antidepressants

[10] www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/for-some-women-with-serious-physical-ailments-mental-illness-has-become-a-scapegoat-diagnosis-180986203/; www.historyisnowmagazine.com/blog/2024/1/2/female-hysteria-throughout-history

[11] "America Has Reached Peak Therapy. Why Is Our Mental Health Getting Worse?" TIME, 28 Aug. 2024, time.com/6308096/therapy-mental-health-worse-us/

[12] Allen Frances, "Does DSM-5 Have a Captive Audience?" Huffington Post, 14 Apr. 2013, www.huffpost.com/entry/does-dsm-5-have-a-captive_b_3080553

[13] Samuel Timimi, "No more psychiatric labels: Why formal psychiatric diagnostic systems should be abolished," Int. Journ. of Clinical and Health Psychology, Sept.-Dec. 2014, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S169726001400009X