I wrote this a few years ago when I was working on the show about mental health, Waving not Drowning. I came across it the other night when I was going over some old files. I wasn't sure if I had posted it before but I can't find it on the blog. I thought it very appropriate for now. The director of the show rejected it as she didn't think people would know what the reference to Tom Cruise was about and also, that medication can help people, sometimes. I wasn't looking to present a balanced debate, I was pointing out how the field of psychiatry in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders appeared to be labeling normal human emotion and behaviour as a mental health problem and then to medicate it. The title was something I heard in a programme about ADHD, that pharmaceutical companies, with the complicity of the medical profession, were creating illnesses so they could sell more tablets. Apologies if it was posted before.
An Ill for Every Pill
In the science of psychiatry, although Tom Cruise would disagree
We like to watch and see if we can find, those little anomalies in your mind
then label them from our dictionary and give it a medical pathology.
Chorus
Because we’ve got an ill for every pill
Just pick which one you’d like
and we can keep you medicated
for the rest of your natural life
‘The house burned down, my husband died
and now I’m feeling low’.
‘No, no my dear, you are depressed
Now take the pills and go
My childs too active he won’t sit down,
What am I to do?’
Just bring him in and we’ll settle him
With a daily dose of Ritalin
Chorus
We’ve got valium and citalopram
and don’t forget the prozac
They’ll dull the pain and stop you feeling
But keep you coming back!
and if they don’t work
and you can’t see the Doc
Then there are others you can buy
there’s always the soluble solpadeine
or give neurofen plus a try
Chorus
That codeine adds a nice little kick
And will brighten any dull day but more importantly for us
it keeps the pharmaceuticals in pay
and even though, over time, they might make you sick
We’ll have another pill to cure that ill
Because that’s our cleverest trick
Chorus