DSM Authors Linked to Drug Companies
"’I don't think the public is aware of how egregious the financial ties are in the field of psychiatry,’ said Lisa Cosgrove, a clinical psychologist …
“The analysis comes at a time of growing debate over the rising use of medication as the primary or sole treatment for many psychiatric disorders, a trend driven in part by definitions of mental disorders in the psychiatric manual.
“Cosgrove said she began her research after discovering that five of six panel members studying whether certain premenstrual problems are a psychiatric disorder had ties to Eli Lilly & Co., which was seeking to market its drug Prozac to treat those symptoms. The process of defining such disorders is far from scientific, Cosgrove added: ‘You would be dismayed at how political the process can be.’”
“A majority of the medical experts who created the ‘bible’ for diagnosing mental illness have undisclosed financial links to drugmakers, says a study out Thursday.
“And some panels overseeing disorders that require treatment with prescription drugs, such as schizophrenia and ‘mood disorders,’ were 100% filled with experts financially tied to the pharmaceutical industry, says the study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, or DSM, is the American Psychiatric Association's diagnosis manual. It is also used as the basis for insurance payments for psychiatric treatments, including drugs.
“’No blood tests exist for the disorders in the DSM, it relies on judgments from practitioners who rely on the manual,’ says lead study author Lisa Cosgrove of University of Massachusetts, Boston.”
“The analysis comes at a time of growing debate over the rising use of medication as the primary or sole treatment for many psychiatric disorders, a trend driven in part by definitions of mental disorders in the psychiatric manual.
“Cosgrove said she began her research after discovering that five of six panel members studying whether certain premenstrual problems are a psychiatric disorder had ties to Eli Lilly & Co., which was seeking to market its drug Prozac to treat those symptoms. The process of defining such disorders is far from scientific, Cosgrove added: ‘You would be dismayed at how political the process can be.’”
—Shankar Vedantam, “Experts Defining Mental Disorders Are Linked to Drug Firms,” April 20, 2006, washingtonpost.com
“A majority of the medical experts who created the ‘bible’ for diagnosing mental illness have undisclosed financial links to drugmakers, says a study out Thursday.
“And some panels overseeing disorders that require treatment with prescription drugs, such as schizophrenia and ‘mood disorders,’ were 100% filled with experts financially tied to the pharmaceutical industry, says the study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, or DSM, is the American Psychiatric Association's diagnosis manual. It is also used as the basis for insurance payments for psychiatric treatments, including drugs.
“’No blood tests exist for the disorders in the DSM, it relies on judgments from practitioners who rely on the manual,’ says lead study author Lisa Cosgrove of University of Massachusetts, Boston.”
—Dan Vergano, “Study: Medical manual’s authors often tied to drugmakers,” 4/19/06, USA Today
posted by Naomi Fox at 5:34 PM
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