CHANGES IN MEDICINE

            Introduction

            Medicine has always been a big part of our culture from the time of the Aztecs all through modern society today.  The need for humans to repair things is just a part of our nature. It will always be this way even long after we can truly heal life, I too will admit that medicine is a big part of my life considering I work in the medical field and many of my family members have different illnesses. I will be comparing some of the modern medicine and treatments to the times of the old like from the book “The Yellow Wallpaper”. In The Yellow Wallpaper medicine was just some random concoction that people brewed up and called it a remedy (Perkins, 1). This was therefore conducted without having tested on a group of subjects or just seeing the “Remedy work before” (Perkins, 1). According to Glenn Sonnedecker, the American Practice of Pharmacy, 1902-1952, Medicine back in the 1850's was sort of legit. People used to have personal pharmacies, and doctors, and pharmacists who prescribed medicine to simplify pain temporarily.  This was however okay this until people started using companies and brands to sell their own product with the similar labels and several of the medicine brands were poisonous because they had not be tested. ‘’ However, this was not the direct case in the medicine market. This is because several Salespeople who worked outside of the pharmacy began imitating and selling imitations of products sold in drugstores. Not only were customers unaware of the falsehood of their purchases but that some of the drugs they purchased also posed a danger to public health’’ (Perkins, 1).                  

            Medicine can therefore be best described as the most amazing thing humans have ever discovered. This is in regard to everything from the molecular level of cells, to the repairing and restoration of wounds and illnesses. Without the invention of medicine most of the individuals would be missing and the reproduction rate would be much lower. For example if Steven Hawking had been diagnosed with what he has now over 150 years ago maybe the knowledge of most diseases as well as preventions would not have been established. Then again some of the greatest people in the world have had mental illness and depression and have been exceptional in their profession. It is very possible that maybe some artists were meant to be how they were born or what they grew into. Everything does happen for a reason, artists like Edward Munch who created ‘The Scream’ was determined said to be a holder of depression, agoraphobia and hallucinations which inspired this painting.  This is supported by the quote below ‘’my fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder ... my sufferings are part of myself and my art. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art.’’(Munch, 1).

            It is clear that due to the rise of different illness in the world today there is a huge need for medical assistance especially from the invented drugs. For instance People with bipolar disorder and depression need help in unrelated medical ways. It is said that counseling and therapy is a much more effective way of helping someone rather than by prescribing some medication that will ultimately put them in a haze and not able to be themselves. If someone like Vincent van Gogh had been placed on medication maybe he would have lived a little longer but who's to say he would have actually been ‘’Vincent Van Gogh’’? Not to bash medicine or give it a bad rep, it just is sold for profits more than helping people. This statement is therefore untrue because despite the fact that medicine provides revenue for different individuals it is a source of help because it provides medical solutions to the existing issues. Company's now have drugs that claim to help you and do help with you for sure, just with about 50 other side effects that could eventually leave you sick and dying anyway. The way things have changed from then to now is very different as far as quality is concerned. Society is now more willing to accept these sicknesses, it is no longer just a crazy person that you can stick in an asylum it is now very treatable.

            There is now therapy used in modern medicine to treat depression which just so happens to be one of the top issues in America. Psycho dynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT) are some of the different therapy provision modes. These are just some of the therapy used today to help people with their issues and explore deeper feelings that the patient never thought they had. According to ‘’Psycho dynamic therapy is designed to help patients explore the full range of their emotions, including feelings they may not be aware of. By making the unconscious elements of their life a part of their present experience, psycho dynamic therapy helps people understand how their behavior and mood are affected by unresolved issues and unconscious feelings.’’  (Goldberg, 1). The major reason as to why I suggested this therapy is because it is the least intense therapy by far. The whole point of this paper is to suggests and defer you from the kind of treatments the author from The Yellow Wallpaper went through.

            Let’s not forget that the author had treatment to her illness prior to the insane asylum her husband had her placed in. She was taken to a doctor before for the same diagnosis except what was suggested was that she be placed in isolation and only eats and sleeps in her bedroom. Sleeping for 12-16 hours a day isn't a solution to depression it is a crutch. This is a form of unfair treatment because with this the disease is not treated by it is rather worsened.  ‘’He said that after the wall-paper was changed it would be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on’’ (Perkins, 1). This quote signifies the type of confinement her husband was placing her in.  The more you sleep the more time you spend in bed thinking, which lead the author herself to go even madder. This highly regarded doctor had no idea of what he was talking about, no offense but at this time not many things were known and therefore he was not acting based on evidence.  This brings me back to my point of medicine still being fairly new. People were still discovering human anatomy there was no way we could understand how the brain itself works. An unfair diagnosis leads to an unfair treatment. I am very certain that if both the doctor and her husband understood what post partum depression was she would have been much better off.

            I would like to share future treatments and cures as well as the measures of preventions which are possible given the technological advancements. There is a new machine that is being used in the U.K. Not on humans but on mice. This machine is called the CRISPR; the CRISPR is defined as a DNA modifying machine.”The CRISPR or the CAS system is a prokaryotic immune system that confers resistance to foreign genetic elements such as plasmids and phages,[4]HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR#cite_note-pmid17379808-5"[5]HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR#cite_note-pmid19095942-6"[6] and provides a form of acquired immunity. CRISPR spacers recognize and cut these exogenous genetic elements in a manner analogous to RNA interference in eukaryotic organisms.[3]‘’ It can literally cut out the genes of any disease or mutated cell that can cause cancer. For diseases like Huntington and Parkinson there is hope, where there had never been a cure or proper medication for people to get rid of these diseases. CRISPR cuts these bad genes out and replaces them with good genes. There for eliminating it from any offspring that could be had but also the host. It has not been tried on humans yet but this a very promising piece of technology, unfortunately I do not think mankind is ready for something like this. I believe that embracing changes helps in solving different issues in the society today. It is too big of a change for anyone to understand immediately, but like everything else we have been through we will find a way to accept it. This could be really bad or really good considering that it would somewhat extinguish the idea of GOD. We can technically now be our own creators with this new kind of medicine.

            Not to get too off topic but I like to end this essay of some thought on how different the medicine really is. From then to now we have come a very long way, Starting at someplace with just penicillin, a bacteria fighter. Till today where there is the presence of Anti viral medication and immunity to diseases that killed off generations of people like the black plague and measles. From throwing patients into insane asylums because they didn't fit into civilization the way most people were used to now having specialists for all kinds of mental illnesses. The only issue really is finding funds to keep improving medicine, which is unfortunate because we could be doing things all over the place but with no money we become stagnant.  ‘‘If we can reduce the cost and improve the quality of medical technology through advances in nanotechnology, we can more widely address the medical conditions that are prevalent and reduce the level of human suffering.’’ Technological acceptance and embracing of the medical changes is the only solution to the existing health issues in the society today (Merkle, 1)

 

            References

Ale Berman. 8 Artists Who Suffered From Mental Illness. 2016. Quote 1. Retrieved from             http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/8-artists-who-suffered-mental-illness

Benjamin F. Butler. Development of American Pharmacy Part 2. 2015 Quote 2.

            Retrieved from

            https://tammysallthingshistory.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/development-of-the-american-  pharmacy-part-2/

Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper Freedom and Confinement Quotes. Quote 4 Retrieved   From. http://www.shmoop.com/yellow-wallpaper/freedom-confinement-quotes-1.html

Quote 5:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR

Ralph Merkle.Famous Quotes of Medical Advances.2016.Quote 6. Retrieved From.             http://topfamousquotes.com/quotes-about-medical-advances/

WebMD. Psychodynamic Therapy for Depression. Quote 3.retrived from http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/psychodynamic-therapy-for-depression