Dancing with the Devil? A personal view of psychiatry's relationships with the pharmaceutical industry

This study investigated the influence of drug-company funding on websites about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Websites in the top 60 for either Google or Yahoo!Xtra with information about causation and treatment were analysed. Likert scales, based on those used in previous similar studies, were developed to rate aetiological explanations and recommended treatment approaches, on a dimension from psycho-social to biological. Overall, the quality of information on websites was poor with a strong bias towards bio-genetic aetiological explanations of ADHD. Twenty-one of the 57 websites (37%) were funded by drug companies. The drug-company funded (DCF) websites were significantly more likely than non-DCF websites to recommend medication rather than psycho-social treatments. The selective lack of consideration of psycho-social treatments by DCF websites is discussed in relation to the relevant research literature, including the evidence in favour of a multimodal approach. The findings, which are consistent with previous similar studies in relation to websites about adult mental health problems, confirm that the pharmaceutical industry is seeking to influence public opinion via the internet.

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“…Few have put it as starkly as Professor Mike Shooter (2005, p. 82), President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK:…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, drug companies and the internet

Mitchell

Read

2011

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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“…This more genuinely evidence-based approach will, however, require us to question how we adopted such a narrow view in the first place, and to free our professional organizations, research journals and teaching institutions from the pervasive influence of the pharmaceutical industry (Mosher et al, 2004;Read, 2008;Shooter, 2005). This will avoid wasting more resources on unproductive research that could be better spent on focusing on what has gone on in the lives of people diagnosed 'schizophrenic' and what will best assist them with the distress and confusion that often results.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time to abandon the bio-bio-bio model of psychosis: Exploring the epigenetic and psychological mechanisms by which adverse life events lead to psychotic symptoms

Read¹,

Bentall²,

Fosse³

2009

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

149

121

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Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1121189X00000257How to cite this article: John Read, Richard P. Bentall and Roar Fosse (2009). Time to abandon the bio-bio-bio model of psychosis: Exploring the epigenetic and psychological mechanisms by which adverse life events lead to psychotic symptoms.Abstract. Mental health services and research have been dominated for several decades by a rather simplistic, reductionistic focus on biological phenomena, with minimal consideration of the social context within which genes and brains inevitably operate. This 'medical model' ideology, enthusiastically supported by the pharmaceutical industry, has been particularly powerful in the field of psychosis, where it has led to unjustified and damaging pessimism about recovery. The failure to find robust evidence of a genetic predisposition for psychosis in general, or 'schizophrenia' in particular, can be understood in terms of recently developed knowledge about how epigenetic processes turn gene transcription on and off through mechanisms that are highly influenced by the individual's socio-environmental experiences. To understand the emerging evidence of the relationship between adverse childhood events and subsequent psychosis, it is necessary to integrate these epigenetic processes, especially those involving the stress regulating functions of the HPA axis, with research about the psychological mechanisms by which specific types of childhood trauma can lead to specific types of psychotic experiences. The implications, for research, mental health services and primary prevention, are profound.Declaration of Interest: None of the authors have any conflicts of interest in relation to this paper.KEY WORDS: sexual abuse in childhood, psychosis, mechanism of psychiatric symptoms.

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“…Great benefit has been gained for people who suffer from difficulties which can be categorised in measurable symptoms and signs. The Royal College has been foremost in promoting this development in psychiatry through its fruitful (or unholy) alliance with commercial drug companies (Shooter, 2005). Now we have the official imprint of the College (Gaskell) producing this extremely interesting publication on environments, on the social dimension.…”

Section: Jessica Yakeleymentioning

confidence: 97%

Reviews

2006

Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology

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Dancing with the Devil? A personal view of psychiatry's relationships with the pharmaceutical industry

Cited by 15 publications

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Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, drug companies and the internet

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, drug companies and the internet

Time to abandon the bio-bio-bio model of psychosis: Exploring the epigenetic and psychological mechanisms by which adverse life events lead to psychotic symptoms

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