Mental Illness and Medication in the USA

1. Existing Social Conditions

1.1. Are anti-depressants effective?

1.2. Emergence of cognitive-behavioral therapy

1.3. Neuroplasticity and emerging therapies

2. Cultural Beliefs and Biases

2.1. Systematizing mental illness

2.2. Belief in the authority of medical professionals

2.3. Belief in efficacy of medication

2.4. "Chemical Imbalance"

3. Social Roles

3.1. Prescribing Physicians

3.2. Patients

3.3. Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

4. Social Inequalities

4.1. Mental illness is subjective in the patient's experience, but objective in the eyes of the law

4.2. Physicians have authority over patients