An Overdiagnosis Epidemic Is Harming Patients’ Mental Health
1 min read
Summary
Suzanne O’Sullivan, a neurologist, has warned that the trend for diagnosing more conditions, without necessarily understanding the causes and effects, risks harming patients.
O’Sullivan points to examples of conditions with very high overdiagnosis rates such as Lyme disease, with an estimated 85% overdiagnosis rate even in areas where it is not possible to contract the disease; cancer screening programmes that often fail to reduce cancer-related death rates; and the explosion in diagnoses of autism and ADHD which has led to worsening mental health, not improvements.
In response to these issues, O’Sullivan recommends calling these conditions something other than “cancer”, to lessen the fear factor and to allow patients to seek a “watchful waiting” approach rather than immediate treatment which can often be unnecessary and damaging.
