The Overpill Documentary portrayed very good points on how prescription medications can be negative and examples on how the pharmaceutical industry is pushing prescription medications to the public. The documentary was very eye opening about this epidemic, and filmed real life experiences of people and their families suffering from these medications. They interviewed people of presumed credibility that also gave reason to believe that there was false information being marketed. Although while watching the film I could agree and sympathize with these individuals, I felt that it was lacking in some areas.
There did not seem to be enough substantial evidence in the film to say all prescription medicine is bad and will cause you to become an addicted, depressed person as a result. Although it did show real people of all ages who do suffer from prescription drug dependency and what it has done to their lives, it did not bring any light on the positives of certain prescription medications. This subject in itself tends to go either far left or far right, but can it be possible to take a middle stance on this issue? This film portrays only the negatives of prescription medication.
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They did this by capturing people in their worst conditions both physically and emotionally as a result of the side effects of prescription medications. They interviewed their families crying, and showed clips and videos of their children looking sad and depressed. All of this brought about some emotion, giving the normal viewer a sympathetic response towards these individuals and their story. The way these scenes were captured and these people were interviewed, worked as a mode of persuasion that prescription drugs have very negative impacts on people, leading to dependency, severe or fatal side effects, and will destroy families and
Some people do not understand the effects of anxiety and cannot recognize the harmful effects of the disorder. Most likely, people who feel this way believe those who suffer from anxiety create their situations within their head. In other words, individuals who are not empathetic may consider people with anxiety crazy. With that in mind, these individuals do not see anxiety suffers as normal and will also dislike the documentary for the attempt to be persuaded oppositely. Overall, someone who is empathetic and understand would pity the persons featured within the
The practice of over prescribing medication is a recent problem facing many today. This is referred to as the prescribing cascade. Dr. Mehrdad Ayati an assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, describes Prescription cascade in the following statement “To put this simply, a patient goes to a doctor’s office with an illness and is given a prescription this prescription has a side effect that causes another illness, and now the patient, unaware that the prescription is the problem, visits the same, or another doctor and is given another prescription. Then this prescription result in a new side effect, which sends the patient to the same, or yet another doctor for the new symptom, and
In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.
An Analysis of GlaxoSmithKline The business that I have done research into is GlaxoSmithKline. This company is a globalised research-based pharmaceutical public limited company. Its ownership structure has changed a great deal since the original company was first established in 1715. Originally a pharmacy, the company has expanded, merged with and taken over other companies over the decades.
We live in a world where being medicated has become a societal norm. Modern health care practices have set the stage for the proliferation of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Some of these practices include the emergence of managed care organizations (MCOs), the legalization of DTCA of prescription drugs, the emergence of the Internet as an alternative promotional channel, the increased desire by patients to become more involved in their own health care decisions, the disillusionment with traditional medicine, and the rise of ‘alternative’ medicine, to name a few. There is an ongoing debate as to the ultimate harm or benefit of this relatively recent practice of pharmaceutical manufacturers to direct their promotional efforts away from the physician and towards the consumer.
The film consists of an argument intermixed with various examples of how the drugs are distributed. The argument starts with the fact that children are being overdiagnosed and put on too much medication, then, the experts analyze the different school shootings and how all the school shooters were on medication, and lastly, the film shows how the pharmaceutical companies control the government and the FDA, so there is no way for the government to negotiate with those companies. Throughout the documentary, there is a secondary narrative of a man who is trying to get away from his addiction. Mike details how he became an addict, and his doctor explains how they treat patients like Mike to help them get past their physical dependence on the drugs. Knezev creates a strong argument against the pharmaceutical companies and the drugs they produce. He is a social activist who has written many books combatting social issues as well as creating other films such as American Addict and Fragments of Daniela. His inspiration for creating American Addict and American Addict 2 is the fact that America is “5% of the world population and is ingesting 80% of the world’s pharmaceutical narcotics” (vimeo.com). First, he uncovered the tiered pharmaceutical system; then, he created an argument against the corrupt system he found by interviewing many politicians and investigators who have
The rise in cost of prescription drugs affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs and the aging population. Prescription drugs have grown to become an essential component of health care. For millions of Americans, prescription drugs are necessary to their health and ability to function in society. While prescriptions are a relatively small portion of overall health spending, they are a main reason for certain health spending trends, growing almost twice as fast all other health services in recent years. Prescription costs can be the costliest expense in your budget, especially if you are on a fixed income. The wealthy can easily afford their medications, but for an increasing population such as the elderly, choosing among purchasing medication, paying bills, or buying food is a real concern.
On the other hand, marijuana and LSD are not the only drugs that are used in films to help enhance the way the film is perceived. Requiem for a Dream revolves it’s entire plot around the ups and downs of being a heroin addict, and leaves little room for pleasant scenes. This film is a classic drug movie that swings from ups to downs in the matter of minutes. Whether it be the simple high, or the ending desperate withdrawal addiction, this film plays with our sensitive sides of the ideas of hard drug use. (Morris, 2000) Drugs such as heroin tend to reach a level that is not normally suitable for watching movies. It is not that the audience is incapable of watching the film, but their conscious state is not suited for film watching. (Mathijs and Sexton, 169) Many would agree that this film is hard to watch due to its extreme graphics of heroi...
The use of definition when it comes to dopamine, for example, is an excellent rhetorical strategy for those unfamiliar with the chemical and its effects on happiness. This comes to light when the film describes dopamine as “a chemical in the brain called a neurotransmitter that’s necessary for feelings of pleasure and happiness” , and then explains the intricate details of its process in the brain (Belic). Considering how dopamine is the fundamental chemical for happiness, it is essential that this documentary set in modern times touch upon it. When it comes to rhetorical strategies, the documentary does hold an advantage over written pieces in terms of imagery. Obviously, to use one image or vivid description would be a discredit to the others it presents, but where its imagery holds the most power is when the film demonstrates people “doing what they love” while talking about it, such as the surfer who describes his passion as the camera shows him curving over a wave (Belic). This particular usage of imagery allows the audience to visualize and connect with what the surfer is describing, and almost allowing them to experience it in the same fashion. This works particularly well in combination with the sound effects of the waves and wind combined and the soothing soundtrack to provide an element of
The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.
The emotional feel or atmosphere created by the documentary was just trying to help. You could tell that they want to help people and make sure they are all healthy and can live the right lifestyle. While watching this film I encountered many things I found questionable. I found three claims to be bias/ controversial in this documentary: it uses correlation as causation, they claim someone having health issues can be solved by cutting meat out of their diet, and lastly they only use one study to prove their method, and it is the one that one of the main people in the movie made.
The Medicated Child exposed the problem of medicating American children for mental illnesses. Diagnosing mental illness has always been difficult and that problem is only exacerbated in children. Common and controversial diagnosis for children that are talked about in this documentary are ADHA and bipolar. Often children will be misdiagnosed which can be a real problem when medication is being prescribed. Before the 90’s children where being prescribed medicine’s that were completely untested in their age group. This was just one of the many problems that the health community, family’s, and the children with these illnesses faced. This was thankfully changed due to government intervention and there is now some knowledge on how these drugs affect
For example in the middle of the film Eddie 's girlfriend Lindy is being chased by another user of NZT-48 who is trying to acquire the stash of pills she had on her. She called Eddie wanting to know what to do and he advises her to take one of the pills implying that it will be clear once she is on the drug (Limitless). This shows that in the movie that taking that little clear pill instantly fixes a situation. This is a view that is shared in the American society today. If you 're looking for proof, just think about how when a child is diagnosed with a hyperactivity disorder (ADD, ADHD) the doctor often immediately prescribes adderall. It is also easy to see the American people 's infatuation with drugs by simply looking at our current number of prescriptions filled at pharmacies annually. An active data table hosted by The Henry J. Kaiser Family foundation states that about four billion prescriptions are filled annually (Kaiser) .This is enough prescriptions for every person in the country, children and adults, to have twelve each. Once a person is on a drug it is often hailed as an immediate fix to the problem, but many don’t think or just don’t care about the long-term side effects it could
Three men were asked to race in a competition across a desert for a grand prize. Of the three men, the two strongest and fastest start running franticly into the desert in hopes to beat the other. The third man stood calmly and watched the race for a moment and then began to walk in the other direction with a smile on his face. A judge of the race stopped the man walking in the other direction and asked him, “Where are you going? The race is that way, to the east.” The man turned and pointed at the two other men racing as they disappeared over the horizon, and then replied to the judge, “I’m running my race towards the west and by looks things I’m already winning.” Companies don’t have to be the biggest, strongest or wealthiest to compete in an economy, sometimes they just simply have to recreate the competition.
The case under analysis, Eli Lilly & Company, will be covering the positives and negatives with regards to the business situation and strategy of Eli Lilly. One of the major pharmaceutical and health care companies in its industry, Lilly focused its efforts on the areas of "drug research, development, and marketed to the following areas: neuroscience, endocrinology, oncology, cardiovascular disease, and women's health." Having made a strong comeback in the 1990's due to its remarkably successful antidepressant Prozac, was now facing a potential loss in profits with its patent soon to expire. The problem was not only the soon to expire patent on Prozac, but the fact that Prozac accounted for as much as 30% of total revenue was the reality Eli Lilly now faced. (Pearce & Robinson, 34-1)