(REUTERS) Disordered? Dysfunctional? Or plain delusional?
Disordered? Dysfunctional? Or plain delusional?
By Toni Clarke
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Women: Turned off by your
partner's eating habits, dirty clothes, beer-swilling football
buddies?
You're probably sexually dysfunctional.
That, at least, is what a growing number of researchers
would have you believe. Over the past three years, a new
consensus has begun to emerge on what constitutes female sexual
dysfunction: everything from pain to boredom to bad dates.
Critics of the pharmaceutical industry claim drugmakers are
seizing on such loose definitions to unnecessarily "medicalize"
an ever-widening range of human behavior in the hope of selling
more drugs.
Personal characteristics are increasingly being recast as
pathologies: Restlessness is attention deficit disorder.
Shyness is social phobia. Excessive shopping, fast driving or
an overly sweet tooth now warrant psychiatric analysis.
"There are some conditions, such as 'sick building
syndrome,' that we are totally perplexed by," said Mark Beers,
Editor in Chief of the Merck Manual, the world's most widely
used general medical textbook.
Sick building syndrome is a term used to describe symptoms
such as runny nose, headache or cough suffered by people inside
a particular building. It is difficult to decide whether to
include such conditions in the Manual, Beers said.
"There is no single agency or entity that defines these
evolving conditions," he said. "Disease definition comes from a
consensus that evolves over time."
Most of that consensus is developed within the medical
community. But other factors also come into play, including
pressure from patient lobbying groups, drug companies and
medical associations.
After complaints from patients, doctors changed the name of
a condition known as benign intercranial hypertension -- a
disorder that leads to pressure in the brain, visual loss and
headaches, but is not caused by a tumor -- to pseudotumor
cerebri.
"Patients wanted it," Beers said. "They thought the term
benign implied their condition wasn't serious."
Pharmaceutical companies are keen to spread the concept of
illness to as broad a population as possible, critics say.
"Once we define something as a medical disorder, we
prescribe drugs for it, so the pharmaceutical companies have a
strong interest in doing that," said Allan Horwitz, professor
of sociology at Rutgers University and author of the book
'Creating Mental Illness.' "They are actively going out and
creating disease."
Drug companies argue they are simply developing treatments
for unmet medical needs. Trevor Jones, director general of the
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said that,
while drug companies spend most of their money on big diseases
such as cancer, "there is no reason why we shouldn't ... treat
real conditions like sexual dysfunction as well."
Eli Lilly and Co.'s <LLY.N> antidepressant Prozac recently
won U.S. approval for treating children ages seven to 17 for
depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The new
indication could boost sales for a drug now threatened by
competition from cheaper generics.
This month a new study will begin to evaluate the effects
of Ritalin, a treatment for attention deficit disorder, in
girls aged 12 to 17. The study will focus on improvements in
girls' relationships with family members and friends, self-
esteem, mood and academic performance.
A survey sponsored by Novartis AG, <NOVZn.VX> the maker of
Ritalin, found last year that girls face greater "impairment"
in these areas than boys.
Many experts have questioned the validity of attention
deficit disorder as a medical condition.
"We, as a society, should recognize that there are
pressures coming from pharmaceutical companies," said Richard
Smith, editor of the British Medical Journal. "Whether or not
you have a disease is not easily defined."
Pfizer Inc., <PFE.N>, which developed the male impotence
pill Viagra, is one of numerous drug companies eager to find an
equivalent for women.
"The positive thing is the issue of women's sexual problems
is now on the table and I'm optimistic that good will come of
this," said John Bancroft director of the Kinsey Institute for
Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. "But I'm not sure the
good will be dependent on giving women drugs."
According to Horwitz, the biggest predictor of sexual
dysfunction is simple: a bad relationship.
(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot and Edward Tobin in New
York and Ben Hirschler in London)
((Reporting by Toni Clarke, editing by Andre Grenon; Reuters
Messaging: toni.clarke.reuters.com@reuters.net, 646-223-6030))
REUTERS
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