Good health!

Pharmaceutical companies are being accused of "inventing" diseases so that they can sell more drugs and thus make more profit. I've no doubt there's some truth in it, but of course in order to succeed, it depends upon the public being willing to believe they are not well. We're not just talking hypochondria here - the fact is that good health is a very subjective thing. There is no doubt that the health of the nation has improved dramatically over my lifetime, and yet doctors' surgeries are as full as they ever were. If a 1950's doctor were to be presented with a modern day doctor's list of patients, I imagine that he would spend much of his time saying "What have you come to see me for - there's nothing wrong with you". What has happened is that, as people's health has improved, so their expectation of what constitutes good health has gone up as well. So we're just as much to blame as the drugs companies.