Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11901

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Feinstein SH.
Review of Medicines out of control? Antidepressants and the conspiracy of goodwill.
Psychiat Serv 2007 Feb; 58:(2):275-276

Abstract:

Reviews the book, Medicines out of control? Antidepressants and the conspiracy of goodwill by Charles Medawar and Anita Hardon (2004). This book is a passionate argument for reframing the way medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, and governments relate to each other and to the consumer in the development, evaluation, prescription, and marketing of medicines. One could come away from this book with the notion that there is a very unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio specifically for mood-altering drugs and possibly for psychotropic medications in general. The authors express support for using patient outcomes to evaluate medications, but they do not take into account the thousands of lives that have been measurably improved, and sometimes saved, by these medications. Medical service providers, medical scientists, and advocates for people with mental illness could find this book worth reading and the issues that it raises worthy of careful consideration. However, it is a whistle-blowers tale, and, as such, it offers a one-dimensional view of issues and events.