Making A Killing

At the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival I always try to spend an hour or two in the free speech zone, partly to find out what other people care enough about to invest their time there. This year there were some people there with an issue I'd never seen formally presented before. They went by the name "Citizens Commission on Human Rights", and were quietly handing out DVD's titled Making A Killing. I asked what it was about, and the woman said something about how way too many drugs are being prescribed way too frequently. She gave me the DVD and said "show it to your friends if you like it."

The movie begins by explaining that as recently as 1967, psychiatry wasn't really a respected medical profession. That changed when they developed some formal techniques for diagnosing common human conditions as diseases. Things like mood swings and post partum depression. Then the pharmaceutical industry figured out that they could sell everybody who'd been diagnosed with one or more of these conditions a steady stream of drugs to treat it/them. Then in the '90s the pharmaceutical industry got approval to advertise directly to the public, and since then usage has really mushroomed.

Partly this is because almost anything can be diagnosed as a mental disorder. The film makers got a random sampling of people to take an online quiz, and half of them turned out to have symptoms requiring further analysis. It is also because drug companies reward psychiatrists for prescribing lots of drugs. Things like free tickets to seminars on nice tropical islands for themselves and a guest, all expenses paid.

This is a big industry. Every year $330 Billion is spend on drugs like Zyprexa, Risperdal, Effexor, Seroquel, and Lexapro each have more than $7 Million spent on them in an average day. Since the drug companies started direct to consumer advertising (those adds that suggest you have a problem and ask that you talk to your doctor and "ask about Lavitra" or whatever) in the 1990s the sales have multiplied dramatically. Drug companies now spend $2.9 Billion on direct advertising, a sizable percentage of their estimated $5.9 annual marketing budgets. There is even a revolving door that connects the psychiatrists, drug companies, regulators, lobbiests, and the media that cover them.

The side effects of these drugs can hurt or kill people. The film estimates more people die every month as a result of drug side effects than were ever killed by the 9/11 attack in New York. They also said more people commit suicide while medicated than get killed in homicides. There was a dramatic sequence where they played footage I'd seen on TV from various mass murders and then listed the drugs the killers were on at the time. They cut to a talking head who said "we didn't have this kind of problem back before these drugs were widely prescribed."

The movie finished with a few suggestions about how to fight back. The key is informed consent. Start by asking "How do you know I need this drug?", "What happens if I don't take this drug?", and "What other treatment options are available?" If you have bad side effects, be sure to report them to MedWatch, a passive government data collection portal.

Back when I was a teenager my Dad had good insurance. I found out about this by not sleeping for a few days as a homeless teenager that didn't know the rules and going off the deep end. I woke up in a psychiatric hospital. At first they were just going to keep me for a couple of days, but then they found out about the huge limits on my Dad's policy. I was locked up for six months. I don't doubt at all the shocking storys above. I've lived through an experience that confirms a lot of the patterns in it. I was surprised by how big the psychiatric-industrial complex has grown since then (1977) though.

The other thought I had was that all that hand wringing about the rising cost of our medical system is partly caused by this problem. Maybe we can solve part of that by stopping drug advertising on TV. Maybe we can keep some easily led people from wanting a prescription. Why would they advertise for drugs if it didn't work?