Apr 02 2009
Being Bipolar: Psychiatric treatment recommendations & financial gain
Researchers in Boston discovered that almost all psychiatrists responsible for drafting the recommendations for treatment of depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have financial ties to drug companies. In fact, this study found that 18 of 20 authors of the guidelines have at least one financial tie to drug companies.
Boston.com reports that this study “is the first to examine potential conflicts of interest in the American Psychiatric Association panels that write the treatment guidelines widely used by practitioners.” (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/02/some_who_set_policy_tied_to_industry/ ) It also states that the diagnosis of these three illnesses generates approximately $25 billion annually for drug companies. These findings have raised an important question: Are you being prescribed medication based upon scientific evidence of its benefits or financial incentives?
I think these findings only confirm the suspicions of many. The introduction of numerous new drugs used in the treatment of these disorders over the past few years have resulted in somewhat of an abandonment of the use of traditional, cheaper drugs. Despite the fact that Lithium is cited as being a preferred treatment for bipolar disorder, doctors tend to prescribe newer, more expensive medications before attempting treatment with this much cheaper alternative. Is this merely coincidence or the influence of large pharmaceutical companies?
Recent changes require that all authors of these recommendations publicly disclose any ties to drug companies. Unfortunately, the standards currently in place were written in 2004 and 2005, so it does not apply to them. At this time, practitioners are treating patients based upon guidelines that may have been tainted by financial gain.
The study is scheduled to be published in the Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics journal online this month. I am very interested in hearing your opinion on these findings. Frankly, I am not surprised in the least.
