More funding for psychiatry risks turning more people into patients, expert argues

Increased financial investment in psychiatry, while enhancing its capacity for investigation, diagnosis, and medication, does not automatically guarantee a reduction in human suffering, according to Martin Wolgast, a docent in psychology and author of "Diagnosernas tid" (The Age of Diagnoses).

Wolgast contends that the prevailing political discourse on psychiatry often focuses solely on the amount of funding, assuming that more resources equate to less suffering. However, he argues that psychiatry is not a passive recipient of funds but a system with its own logic. This logic transforms suffering and difficulties into medical diagnoses, which in turn necessitate treatments. As the system expands, so does its method of defining and treating human experiences.

The consequences of this systemic logic are evident in recent statistics. Between 2010 and 2024, the number of ongoing sick leave cases with psychiatric diagnoses in Sweden more than tripled. Among children and adolescents, prescriptions for ADHD or ADD medications have surged by approximately 600 percent since 2006. By 2022, over 10 percent of boys aged 10 to 17 had received such a diagnosis, with projections indicating this figure could reach 15 percent. Similarly, antidepressant prescriptions for girls in the same age group have increased by about 300 percent since 2010.

Wolgast suggests that this expansion creates a self-perpetuating cycle: more individuals are investigated, leading to more diagnoses, which results in more medication and follow-up appointments. Consequently, queues can grow even as funding increases. He emphasizes that psychiatric diagnoses are not based on objective biological markers but on behaviors and experiences interpreted within their social context, relative to school demands, work life, or societal norms. Therefore, psychiatric diagnoses are fundamentally social judgments disguised in medical language, lacking the robust scientific foundation and demonstrable treatment successes seen in other medical fields.