Introduction
The twentieth century disease is meant to have only occurred in 20th century as a result of the many environmental changes. Some say that it is an acute allergic reaction as the environment has been polluted by many things. There needs to be sufficient evidence which can prove that this disease really exists.
This paper seeks to investigate if the 20th disease exists and if so, is it as a result of changes in the environment or is it a psychiatric disorder.
Analysis of the 20th century disease
There have been some explanations concerning this disease. There are those who believe the environment is responsible for it and there those who think it is a psychiatric illness. There was a recent study on forty patients, who claimed to have environmental hypersensitivity according to Dr. Donna Sleima. Credibility-the assertion that “Don’t blame the environment it’s the mind” is very true and this has been proven by sufficient evidence. Dr. Donna Sleima is a credible source of the claim of this report. He has a lot of knowledge on psychiatry and the ability to prove this people need psychiatric help. He justified his position on this matter, when he was done testing them, he concluded that they were suffering from some psychiatric conditions and not what they believed was affecting them. Given the doctors position as an associate professor of psychiatry, he had a lot of knowledge in his field of expertise. To further prove the claim is true, tests were conducted by allergy specialists and only two were found to have allergic conditions. A person can then reasonably claim that Dr. Sleima word on this matter is very true, due to his expertise in psychiatric cases.
Twelve of the patients had earlier on gone to seek the services of physiatrists and this means that they had suspected something was not right with them. This can mean that their “disease” was in the mind and not caused by the environment and this fact can be supported by people who make use of good reasoning. There are many symptoms that are associated with environmental sensitivity and can be either mild or severe. Depression ,fatigue, not being able to adjust to normal life are some of the symptoms experienced and this are the same symptoms normally associated with people who need psychiatric help. The belief that there can be substances that may cause death, found in items such as clothing, food and water is not caused by the environment and this is an example of a post hoc fallacy. The fear that was demonstrated by this people is a human emotional reaction. .The environment could not be a cause for this disorder, because everyone in the world would be affected with it, since they also live in this environment is an example of evidence that needs to be further supported.`
Secondly, the doctors had concluded that this people were suffering from depression, phobic anxiety and schizophrenia. The first correlation is quite relevant but is not sufficient to establish the causal claim. According to the patients, there were unhealthy substances in the environment, especially in the city that made them have this disease. Most of the patients were women who were between the ages of 20 years to 60 years. The fact that some of these patients were forced to get the help of doctors, by lawyers and insurance companies that deal with the environment leads one to conclude that the patients were not honest. Studies-In the past there have been cases whereby some people claim to have a disease so that they can get monetary compensation after suing certain companies. An example is when the United States veterans, sued companies that produced Agent Orange, a chemical that polluted the environment and had adverse effects on their health.
The treatment that was administered to them was the use of different types of therapy as well as prescription of drugs. The result was that they were able to live like normal people without the any fear. From the above statement one can easily conclude that their problem was in the mind and not due to environmental factors. There were some patients who claimed that the prescriptions and treatment did not work .Casual reasoning was used when the 41 year old woman claimed to have the twentieth century disease. She claimed that her life changed drastically when she moved from the city to the country side and the prescriptions had worked well. She had earlier been told to undergo psychiatric help but refused and this is because most people associate psychiatry with being considered mad.
Report-the headline of this excerpt is not very informative as one is not able to know its meaning instantly. The readers are not able to understand clearly on why the mind or the environment should be blamed. There is no sufficient background information on the 20th century disease. There is lack of balance and there is only one credible source despite knowing that the claim mentioned attracted a number of views. They included lawyers, allergy doctors, insurance companies and patients but there is no specific claims made by them. In conclusion I believe that the statement “don't blame the environment; it's the mind “is true as Dr. Sleiman is the only credible source and his view points and studies have proven otherwise.
