Is this a new phenomenon or has it always been a feature of medicine? There seems an enormous desire to use individual treatments for as many different, and often unrelated, conditions as possible.
I had thought once medicine had got over this trend when such as bloodletting was replaced with actual science. However it seems to be on the increase be it specific medicines or such as CBT. Has it always been a fantasy that medicine is based on understanding the underlying conditions and from that developing an appropriate treatment.