Lifestyle Drugs
"Do we need lifestyle drugs?" asks this BBC report.
"The drug industry has been accused of turning women's sexual problems into a disease.
"It is the latest stage in a battle between those who believe so-called lifestyle disorders such as obesity and baldness should be treated, and those who believe they should not be 'medicalised'.
"The debate is not over whether people experience these conditions.
"Instead, it is about how they should be defined, and whether they are diseases which can be treated with a pill."
If this is the debate, it's a dumb one. Drugs can have benefits beyond treating conditions labeled as "diseases." While fretting about pharmaceutical companies making money off of drugs that people want, like Viagra, the article seems to ignore the possibility that the person with the "so-called lifestyle disorder" might have something to say in all of this.
What's wrong with people deciding for themselves (in consultation with their doctors) whether they want to simply cope with these conditions, try dealing with them through lifestyle changes, or take drugs to address them?
