In the past, the norm in modern medicine was to seek a cure for whatever ailed one. Now, cures are found first, and then the affliction it can alleviate is identified, promoted and solved by the remedy. This shift, at any rate, seems to apply in the case with Upjohn Company’s new drug entitled “Luvox.”
Upjohn is currently seeking a “celebrity sufferer” as part of a huge ad campaign to promote awareness of a malady most people don’t know exists called obsessive compulsive disorder, which I feel compelled to abbreviate as OCD, though I’ve been accused of excessive use of if not obsession with acronyms. Are you a bit obsessive, compulsive, anal-retentive, quirky, fixated, possessed by incessant thoughts, panic attacks, irrational attacks or otherwise a bit disordered? If so, cheer up–there’s a drug for you and, for a few colorful sufferers, an opportunity. You could become a poster boy/girl for OCD. Yes, since PCD has been neglected due to the fact that a cure (or at least a profitable treatment) was unavailable, the public must be made aware of this frightful disorder. Coming soon now that there is a treatment will be a blizzard of “public service” educational messages in a vast campaign to inform you about the nature, extent and cost of OCD. And, of course, how to get over it (think Luvox).
One unfortunate side effect of the coming OCD campaign might be the opening of a floodgate of worried well treatment seekers! Increased demand for managed care centers and other medical offices could overload the system, raise costs and tie up health professionals needed by non-OCD sufferers. Maybe Luvox should be available in grocery stores.
Now if only Upjohn or some drug company could discover a cure for low level worseness! Of course, it would never sell unless the pill could be taken in lieu of exercising responsibility, eating wisely, working out, managing stress and all the rest requiring time and commitment to all those initiatives that, to date, just can’t be bottled. For genuine cases of OCD (which Luvox amelioriates by raising serotonin levels in the brain), behavioral therapy may be as or more effective with less risk of side affects.
Finally, the wellness-oriented might wonder if, with limited resources for treating disease, priority allocations ought to be set in accord with marketplace opportunities. As you might suspect, some of us at Wellness Central don’t think so.
