For quite some time now I, like many people, have had major concerns about the pharmaceutical industry - the way they advertise, fund their own research and keep it quiet, invent syndromes, selectively choose the results that work best for them, manipulate patients, downplay side effects, sell illness and instill fear all in the name of so-called health on one hand and "business as usual" on the other.
Why just yesterday I saw an antidepressant commercial for the bazillionth time that touts an "add-on" approach. That is to say, if one prescription doesn't work, add another. What was missing from the ad copy was the drug's original positioning that stated, and I quote...
"Approximately 2 out of 3 people being treated for depression still have depression symptoms. If an antidepressant alone isn't enough, talk to your doctor. Your options may include adding Drug X to the antidepressant you're already taking."
I imagine upon hearing this that many people like myself were left baffled, thinking, "So, let me get this straight." If your antidepressant didn't make you feel better, which based on the stats was probably the case, add another one and double the amount of brain-altering chemicals pulsing through your blood. Not to worry though, the chance of "uncontrollable muscle - and tongue - movements" only may become permanent. What does that say about the drug's effect on the mind? In the end, after all the research and advertising dollars spent, they don't actually know. I find this frightening.
"May work?" "Thought to?" Not, "Actually does?" Sometimes I feel like I'm screaming and nothing is coming out.
But let's back up for a minute. If prescription drugs for depression don't help 2 out of 3 people, why are these same drugs being prescribed to people hand over fist in the first place? All these people are taking medication that turns out to be only 33% effective? Is this nuts, or is this nuts? Why not make one that works before going to market? Failing 66% of the time in the real business world with any other product would be a complete embarrassment. In no uncertain terms, it would be a dud.
And it's not just the antidepressant category. Not long ago I was sitting in my gynecologist's office and picked up a brochure for birth control. Inside it said, and I quote "There is no single explanation for how Drug Y works." What? FDA are you there?
If only they took the billions and billions of dollars they put into advertising and invested it in research, they may be able to 1) make drugs that do a better job and 2) tell us how and why they actually work.
In the meantime, why don't we question? Why don't we challenge? Why do we fall hook, line and sinker for claims that are suspect at best and deceptive at worst? What is it about our collective unconscious that only sees hope and promise at the expense of the rest of the story?
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Donna Flagg is the author of Surviving Dreaded Conversations.
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