Of 170 panel members of the newly revised Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, 95 (56 percent) had one or more financial associations with companies in the pharmaceutical industry. One hundred percent of the members of the panels on ‘Mood Disorders’ and ‘Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders’ had financial ties to drug companies.
The assistant director of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School received $1 million from drug companies between 2000 and 2007.
A study of pharmaceutical promotion in 2004 shows that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4 percent of the sales dollar on promotion versus 13.4 percent for research and development. In other words, they spent almost twice as much money to push their drugs than the amount to research their safety.
So, are psych drugs safe? You decide. Here are a few of the side effects listed on SSRI inserts:
- Confusion
- Depersonalization
- Hostility
- Hallucinations
- Manic reactions
- Suicidal ideation
- Loss of consciousness
- Delusions
- Feeling drunk
- Alcohol abuse
- Homicidal ideation
Read more at The ‘Fictitious Disease’ Called ADHD.